My Green Eyes, My Protector
by myagrace
Summary: When Bella was little, her best friend left her. Years later, she's trying to find her way in life and comes face to face with what she thinks is the same little boy from her past. Mobward. ExB. M for language, violence, and maybe a lemon or two.
1. Chapter 1

Alright everyone, Hiya! I know it's been a little longer than I said when I would get this out to you, but I had tattoos done on both of my wrists for my birthday, and that wasn't very conducive to typing. But, I did get this going and I've got plans!

This is mostly just a 'meet Bella' chapter. Giving you background on her life, but it's also I big part of the story. A lot of the reasons why she is the way she is.

Hopefully I'll be able to get these chapters done every two weeks, I make no promises though. I will promise that the story will be finished. One thing I can't stand is an unfinished story.

Be prepared for some Mobward! We will get there, so just stay with me.

And if you've read any of my other stories and don't know it by now, but Lola, (LaurieWhitlock) is my beta and awesome friend. Muah.

Anyways, happy reading, 'and may the odds be ever in your favor.' (Yeah I went to see the hunger games this weekend, leave me alone. That kinda stuck with me. Lol sue me.)

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><p>BPOV<p>

I'm sitting here in the park that I used to come to as a child. This place has always been sentimental to me. It's where I came to play, to escape my brother and sister because it was right around the corner from our house, where I met the first person I ever loved… but I'll get to that later.

What I'm really trying to figure out, is my life.

I don't really know when my life became… well, not mine.

Things weren't always so crazy, but being the youngest of three kids, you learn to grasp the fact that you usually get the short straw… all the time.

Basically, I'm everyone's bitch. That's really the all encompassing way to put it. I do everything, and I mean _everything_ for my parents, sister, brother, boss, you name it.

My mom is sick. She's got Multiple Sclerosis, and she's in really bad shape. It's hard for her to get around and her mind is pretty much Swiss cheese. It being MS, there is no cure, so you, essentially, are watching a person you love slowly wither away and die. And the damage it does to the person's brain is just sad. It alters your moods, how you process things, and your outlook on any number of things. My mom, Renee, pretty much is a mess. She over reacts to almost everything, snaps at just about anything anyone says, her attitude about stuff is really the most negative I've seen out of anyone. It's so hard to even talk to her normally. She's not my mother anymore. She may have given birth to me and my sister and brother, but she's not the same person we knew growing up. She's basically a shell of the person I knew.

Everything changed several years ago. Well, seventeen years ago was when she was diagnosed with MS, but about eight years ago is when she started going downhill.

She started losing her balance a lot, falling, not being able to see as well, her speech got worse. She was losing a lot of her coordination and would drop things or miss where things need to be. It has gotten to where, now, I have to literally do most of the things she needs done for her; fix her plate for lunch or dinner, I do the cooking, cleaning, drive her around if it's the two or three of us. If she has dropped, can't find, or is physically unable to do something, I have to go handle it. I'm basically a 'go-fer' for her. I'm, literally like a nurse, cook, maid, and chauffer. It's like the tables turned, overnight. I became the mother, and she became this helpless child. Even though at the time, I was only seventeen.

I really have grown to resent this. I love my mother, dearly. But it gets to the point that I have to ask, 'what about my life and what I want? Does any of that matter to anyone?'

Ever since I turned seventeen, I haven't really been able to do much of anything but take care of Renee. Sure, most people would say, 'what about your dad or your sister or brother? Why aren't they helping?' well, my sister, Charlotte, is the oldest, she got married and moved to a neighborhood just outside of Seattle. She and her husband, Peter, have a little girl, Sofia, and a little boy, Ben. And then my brother, Garrett, and his wife, Kate, moved to Portland with their son, Alec.

They each have a family and life away from Forks. The only time we ever really see each other is holidays, or the odd occasions where they come to visit for the day. Or I'm asked to come watch the kids for them… basically because; apparently my life has to take a backseat to everyone else when they need something done.

That happens all the time, though. Everyone in my family thinks that I have nothing better to do with my time, that I can drop everything and rush to do whatever they want. It gets really old after a while and makes you feel like an employee in your own family.

And I'm completely serious on that part. With everything that I end up doing for my mother, sister, brother, or even my dad, Charlie, I just feel like I work for them.

And I don't really feel like a part of the group when we're together as a family. Everyone else just talks amongst themselves, but I get left out of almost all conversations. My sister-in-law, Kate, is pretty much the only one that has mercy on me. She usually does talk to me like I matter, but not so much from my other family members.

As for my dad, Charlie, well, he's not exactly what you would call 'supportive', or an 'active' father. Charlie never really was much of a father figure. More like he was just there. Pretty much just the sperm donor. Lord knows that man took Garrett under his wing when he was growing up, but when it came to Char and me, not so much. Even though he tried to teach all of us to hunt. Charlotte didn't really care for it. Neither did I, but I still took the time to learn to shoot. Just for the heck of it. But Garrett was the one that became Charlie's hunting buddy.

Charlie has always been a pretty heavy drinker, so growing up in our house wasn't always pleasant. He never let it affect his job, but when he came home, he became… well an asshole. Not gonna sugarcoat it. The verbal abuse from when we were kids was atrocious. Any and every name, insult, and degradation were thrown our way. Mom tried to stop him from talking to us like that, but it usually went in one ear and out the other.

It wasn't just verbal abuse, but we're not going there. Let's just say that I have no respect for Charlie anymore. Pretty much why I don't call him 'dad', he's Charlie to me. You don't get that title when you smack your kids around.

He likes to hang out with his friend, Billy, and drink till they can't see straight, which is most of the time. That's mostly how we grew up. Emotionally absent father who only comes in when he has to. And only stays married to my mom because he feels obligated to stay with her because of her illness.

Anyways, with all that being said, with me being the baby of the family and no spousal help, it falls to me… and I really hate it. I'm sorry, but I'm turning twenty-six, and I practically still live with my family, never had a boyfriend, have almost been raped when I was in high school (but no one knows that), and I have no real direction in life.

You know how they say 'people with a high school diploma have more options than someone without one'? I call bullshit! If you don't have, at least, a degree from a huge college, you're screwed. And even then, you still need a Master's, Doctorate, and whatever else they have to offer to get a job that's worth a damn. But of course, my sister and brother both have a degree and Master's, so they're all set. So who got left behind when the money was literally gone when it was time for me to graduate from high school and go to college? That's right, me.

I never went to college, like my sister and brother did. They both had mom and dad to pay for college for them. But when my mom started getting worse, medical bills started piling up. Then dad got hurt, and his bills piled up along with moms too.

So, when it was time for me to graduate from high school, there was nothing for me to go to college. And I know you're gonna say, 'well, what about school loans?'. Well, you would be right, if the economy hadn't been hit so damn hard right at the same time that I would have considered that. And the fact that I didn't really have a career chosen for myself, I didn't want to risk going into one field and not have a demand for it. Then I'd be up shit creek, without a paddle, trying to pay back student loans.

I don't want to get into a hole that I can't get myself out of.

Anyways, I at least do have a job to pay for my few bills. I'm a bartender at one of the only bars in Forks. But that still only gets me so far.

I also have a small studio apartment, but only get used, maybe half the time since I'm usually taking care of Renee. It's nothing fancy, but it keeps me away from Charlie and Renee for a while and I can at least have my own space.

What I really want from my life, is to make a difference. Make people smile. Do what _I _want.

I've always wanted to own my own bakery. Not just work in one of those grocery store bakeries, where someone else bakes the cakes and stuff, and then you decorate them however your advisor sees fit.

No, I want a real bakery. One where I can use my own creations. Somewhere authentic with the things you would find in an old school bakery. Cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes, pastries. Not just the run of the mill stuff either. I want to make things that will surprise people and keep them coming back.

My mom taught me how to cook and bake. Sure, I've learned a few things here and there, but she taught me the basics. And I've added to it over the years to where I've got so many great ideas in my head, just waiting to burst out.

I think back to when I was little and had the first idea that I wanted to own a bakery, and rubbed the tattoos on my wrists, lightly.

I can remember the day, pretty clearly.

~Flashback~

_My mother had taken me to the park to play, again. I was always kind of a loner as a kid, even into my teens, but I always wanted to do my own thing. I usually stuck to myself._

_I was six, and had been playing in this very park, when a couple of kids started picking on me because I wouldn't play with anyone else... But the kids that picked on me had always been the rude, abrasive jerks that they grew up to be. _

_They had been telling me that I need to grow up and ask someone else if they wanted to play, too. _

_I told them the whole time that I just wanted to play by myself and if they could just please leave me alone._

_That's when one of the girls took my sand bucket and hid it behind her back. She just smiled at me like she hadn't done anything._

_I just stared at her and hoped that the tears wouldn't fall down my cheeks. I hated crying in front of people. I always got picked on or yelled at for crying, so I just tried my hardest not to._

_Then there was a little boy standing next to me. I had never even heard him approach. He had crazy bronze colored hair, gorgeous face with a straight nose and the greenest eyes that had ever been seen on a person. The scowl on his face made me want to run and stand by his side all at the same time. It was weird to me. Even at six years old I knew that he was special. Special how, I had no clue, I just knew he was._

"_Hey, leave her alone. She never did anything to you. Let her play!" The boy, that I quickly started calling Green Eyes in my head, said sternly to the mean kids._

_The girl that had taken my bucket smiled sweetly at him, but when he didn't smile back, she threw the bucket back at me and ran off. The other two kids with her ran after her as well._

_I turned to look back at the boy and saw him staring at me like I was special. _

"_You ok? Are they always that mean?" He asked me in a quiet but concerned voice._

"_Yeah, I'm ok. And yes, they are. Just because I don't like playing with the popular kids and like to keep to myself, they think I'm weird. I'm not weird; I just don't want to be around people that make me feel worse about myself. It seems to be a favorite pastime for some of the kids around here. Anyone who is a little bit different, they automatically don't want to be around you. I just cut to the chase. Saves time. If someone wants to be my friend, they'll see past the differences." I told him, meekly._

_He reached over and put a stray piece of my hair behind my ear. "How old are you?"_

"_Six. Why? How old are you?" I asked him back, not sure why he was asking me._

"_You don't act like you're six. You act older. Maybe that's why they pick on you. You're too mature for them and they're jealous. I'm six, too." He answered._

_What?_

"_Huh? Why would they be jealous? I'm just a nerdy little girl who is too shy and nervous around people to talk to or play with them." I answered, wondering if this guy was crazy._

"_Nope. I think that's exactly why. And you're really beautiful, too." He whispered the last part, but I still heard him. _

"_Uhhh…." I was stumped._

_He just smiled at me. _

"_Could I play with you?" He asked, hesitantly._

"_Umm, sure." And we played for what seemed like forever._

_When my mom called me over, I noticed another woman sitting beside her. She looked just like Edward._

_I could hear the tail end of mom's conversation with the woman. "… 'I've never seen Bella take to anyone like she has to Edward. Wonders will never cease. I guess she'll actually be normal." Imagine how that makes a six year old girl feel. Yeah, not very confident, to say the least. Especially when she gets picked on for being a loner._

_Renee has always been a little critical of us. She always wanted us to excel in school, have tons of friends, and make something of ourselves. _Guess she's not very happy with how I've ended up…

_I was introduced to Edward's mom, Esme, that day. She had a box with her, and when she opened it, Edward and I both dove into it. She had made the most amazing cookies I had ever had in my life. They were chocolate chip, with pecans and something else that I didn't know what it was; till I got older that is. _

_Esme invited us over to their house, later that day. Renee said she didn't think she could make it because she had to go pick up Charlotte from cheerleading practice. But she said I could go with Esme and Edward, if I wanted to. _

_So that afternoon, I spent with Esme and Edward in their kitchen. _

_Since Edward and I had eaten most of the cookies that Esme brought to the park, we made more. She taught me her 'secret recipe', which ended up being extra flavor. No I won't say exactly what. That is top secret and only between Esme and I. _

_That was the day that I started dreaming about having my own bakery and selling cookies like the ones Esme taught me how to make. _

_Edward and I had really hit it off that day, we had so much fun playing with each other. I had never clicked so well with someone before. He didn't expect anything from me. Not like Renee or Charlie did. Esme didn't either. She just wanted me to be a kid. She seemed to want to make sure that kids were actually kids before they had to grow up. _

_I also met Edward's dad, Carlisle, and twin brother, Jasper. It was odd because Edward looked exactly like Esme, and Jasper was the spitting image of Carlisle. Bright blond hair, sharp blue eyes. It was amazing to see. I will say that both Edward and Jasper seemed to favor Carlisle jaw line, though. _

_We hung out all the time after that. We played inside or out depending on the weather and even ate at each other's house most nights. We spent almost every waking moment with each other. The girls all tried to get Edward to talk to them to no avail, I was his only friend. I loved that fact, it made me feel special. _

_Our friendship prompted our parents to strike up a friendship. Well at least Renee and Esme. _

_Carlisle and Charlie didn't seem to care for each other, but weren't hostile towards one another either. _

_Things were great for about a year. But then, one day Edward came over nearly in tears. I had never seen him cry, so I knew something was really wrong. _

"_Edward? What's the matter?" I asked when I opened the door and saw him there. _

_He came in and sat down on the floor with me in the living room. He just sat there for a while with his head on my shoulder. _

"_We're moving, BEB." He said quietly. That had become a nickname for me from him. He would say I was his brown-eyed beauty._

_I tensed at what he said. They were leaving? _

"_NO! You can't leave me!" I yelled and flung myself at him, wrapping my arms around him and holding on for dear life._

_He held onto me just as tightly. I could tell he didn't want to leave either._

"_You don't know how much I wish I could stay, B. But mom and dad have to go back to Chicago for a while, and I don't know when we would be back, if we ever came back." He whispered the last part, and I broke down._

_We sat there and cried with each other for a long time. Renee finally came in a while later and asked, "What's going on? Why are you two crying?" She rushed over to us._

"_Edward and his family are leaving!" I almost wailed. I couldn't lose my best and only friend._

"_Oh baby. I'm so sorry. I knew we should have told you both sooner. Esme and Carlisle have been talking about it for a few weeks now, and we thought it was best to let you both spend your time, happy, instead of sad." _

_The next week, on the day that Edward and his family were leaving for Chicago, we wouldn't let the other go. We were either holding each others hand, or were hugging, or leaning against each others shoulders. Renee had let me spend the last two nights at the Cullen's house. I didn't really give her a choice; my best friend was leaving and I wanted all the time I could get in before he was gone forever. _

_We were sitting in their front yard. His left arm wrapped in my right arm, and my head on his shoulder. _

"_I got you something…" He whispered, then handed me a small, velvet box. _

_I looked up at him and took the small box. When I opened it, I found a heart-shaped locket._

_I had tears in my eyes again. I took it out of the box and opened it up. There on the inside, was a picture of us together on one side, and then a picture of just him on the other. It was the best gift he could have possibly gotten me to remember him by._

"_It's perfect, Green Eyes. Will you put it on me?" I asked as I handed it to him. Green Eyes had become one of his nicknames too. We each loved the others eyes. His, because they were so loving and bright and fun. They reminded me of emeralds. And he always said mine were the warmth of the sun, and melted chocolate. _

_He fastened it around my neck and then I turned around to see his face full of something. I was too young to understand it, but it was soft, and warm, and… everything that I've come to love about him._

"_You'll always be able to look at that and remember me. You'll always be my brown eyed beauty. And I'll always love you, B." He told me with conviction. He turned the locket over to the other side where it said 'Ti amo'._

"_And you'll always be my Green Eyes. My only protector. I'll always love you, too, Edward." I started crying again._

"_Don't cry, B… I'll never be able to leave with mom and dad if I know you're still crying." He pulled me to him and hugged to heck out of me._

"_Please come back, someday… I don't care when, just come back and see me. I don't think I could go without ever seeing you again."_

"_I will. I promise, B. I'll come back for you one day." Edward whispered._

_As we stood there by their car, holding each other, I couldn't help but feel like my heart was being torn out of my chest. _

"_Edward, it's time to go sweetie." Esme had said softly from behind us. _

_That caused a sob from me._

_Edward took my face in his hands and kissed my tears away. Then he kissed my nose. We had always given each other Eskimo kisses, but right now, I think it would have just hurt more to know we'd never be able to do that again. _

_He held onto my hand until he couldn't reach me anymore. I tried my hardest not to cry until they were gone. But a few tears slipped down my cheek._

_As they pulled out of the driveway, Edward held his hand to the window as he looked out at me. Driving down the street, I ran out to the street and watched their car get smaller and smaller. I fell to the pavement and let the tears fall. I had lost my best friend in the world. The only person who really understood me. And now I'd probably never see him again. _

_~End Flashback~_

Thinking back to that time brought tears to my eyes again. I wiped them away and looked around the park again.

I usually came here when I was feeling nostalgic or when I wanted to wallow in self pity. I found out a couple of years ago that it was a very large possibility that I wouldn't have children. My cycles had never fully come on, and the doctors never could really tell what was wrong. I had started out ok with them, like any other teenage girl. They weren't regular most times, but then they just stopped all together. The doctor tried hormones, birth control, but nothing seemed to help. The only thing they could come up with was that my ovaries weren't producing eggs like they should.

It took me a while to come to terms with that information, but for now, I just come and see the little lives that someone was blessed to create.

Oh I'm a little bitter that I can't have kids, but I still see them as a blessing. No one should be denied the joys of being a parent.

A flowing mound of bronze hair catches my eye from the jungle gym. It's a little girl, about six or seven, with bronze ringlets, pale skin, and wearing a pair of grey leggings and a pink and white flower dress. And on her feet, pink sparkly mary-janes. _Too stinkin cute!_

But then what I see next makes me angry.

A few kids had chased her to the jungle gym and had her trapped up there, taunting her.

Her eyes are searching around, looking for something or someone to help her. And I see a familiar pair of green eyes when I catch them and they are pleading with me.

As I was standing up to rush over there to get her down before she hurt herself, another flash of bronze hair swept past me.

The little boy runs up to the jungle gym and starts yelling at the other kids.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" He was like a fierce lion, protecting his own.

And then I caught his eyes too and was suddenly frozen in place.

_Oh my god, no. I'm in some sort of twilight zone. There's no way in hell that he's the same boy. Oh my god, oh my god… I don't think I can breathe…_

Green eyes… green eyes are all I can think of at the moment.

_I still don't think I can breathe…_

I can't look away, but the only other things I can see while I look at this scene, is the sad eyes of a little boy from the back seat of his parents car as they pulled away, the same green eyes I see now. I can see the locket that he gave me before he left the pictures inside it that I have looked at almost every day for the past twenty years, and the tattoos that are on each of my wrists.

_I miei occhi Verdi_ on one, and _Il mio protettore _on the other.

_I really don't think I'm getting any air right now._

And in true Bella Swan fashion, I faint.

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><p>AN: Ok guys, this is the first chapter of the new story. Stay with me. I know this one was a little on the boring side, but you gotta have your background for a story before you can get to the good stuff :P hehehehehe

I may or may not post an outtake from Edward's POV from when they were kids, just to give you a little insight to his side. We'll see how this chapter is responded to. If you want the outtake, tell me. If not, I'll go on to the next chapter.

I will have an EPOV every so often. Not a lot, but if there's something that needs explaining, then I'm gonna explain it.

Ok so obviously, _Ti amo _means 'I love you' in Italian.

And _I miei occhi Verdi_ means 'my green eyes' and _Il mio protettore_ means my protector in Italian. If you're Italian and I don't have it right, sorry. Blame Bing and Google translators. It's their fault. Lol

I'm not a doctor, not in the mob, don't work in a bar. But I do have tattoos, a mother with MS, and most of the things in this chapter (and story) pertain to my life. So it's personal to me.

Let me know what you guys think!


	2. Chapter 2

HIYA! You guys seriously have no idea how excited I am that so many people have been following and favorited this story. It's close to 100 favs and alerts with just 2 chapters. I can't even tell you how grateful I am that people actually like the stuff I'm writing. I had a really good response to TGMINK, but this is even more than I ever thought. So thank you all.

And thank you all for the reviews. Keep em coming. I enjoy knowing what you think. I know I didn't get to respond to all the reviews this week, but with easter and a full week, it's been a little busy.

I've had some people ask if the little boy Bella saw in the first chapter is Edward, or his son. This chapter answers that. I know some of you would rather it not be his son, but work with me. Things will be explained. Stick with me here. I promise things will work out. (I know some of you that read TGMINK are worried that I'll do the same thing in this story, and the answer is; not that I know of…yet. I'm still working on that, but I don't think it'd really work for this story. No worries)

And I'm shortening the distance from Seattle to Forks in this story, just a little bit. Instead of 3 hours driving time, I'm going with 2 or less. Maybe 1 ½ hours.

Again, the wonderful Lola, aka LaurieWhitlock, is the beta. Any mistakes, blame her. Haha! (Muahs)

And of course, SM owns Twi. I just really wish I did. Lol

Read on! I'll see ya at the bottom.

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><p>BPOV<p>

When I come around, I thank god that I had been standing in a very grassy area, or I would have been in so much more pain.

I open my eyes, and am met with the same little boys eyes, but I seem to be seeing double.

I then remembered the little girl and it all made sense when I see the longer hair around the second pair of eyes.

"You're really pretty. What's your name?" the little boy asks, but I'm still a little foggy.

As I sit up, I see a few of the parents that were in the park coming up to us to see what was going on. I obviously wasn't out for more than a minute or so.

I wave them off when they ask if I'm ok. "I'm fine, nothing a few Advil won't fix."

Then I turn to the little boy and girl. "My name's Bella. What are your names, my little beauties?"

"I'm Masen and this is Izzy. We're twins." Masen tells me proudly. The girl, Izzy, seems to be worried that I might faint again.

"Wow, that's fun, I bet. Do you always protect your sister, Masen? I saw you do that earlier. That was very brave of you." I told them, hoping that I could dispel any worry they might have.

Masen nods. "Uh huh. Daddy says that I should always make sure she's protected and no one messes with her. She's the princess and I'm the prince. The princess should always be safe. And it's the prince's job to make sure she's stays that way."

Holy shit, was this kid for real?

"You are so very brave then. You take your job really seriously and being brave like that takes a lot of courage. You are such a special little boy." I tell him, and then turn to Izzy. "You are very lucky to have such a protective brother. You'll always be looked after with him around." I smiled at her, receiving one in return.

"Yeah, he's the best brother." Izzy said, proudly.

"Where are your mom and dad? Aren't they here with you?" I asked, just realizing that I had yet to see anyone come for them.

I saw a sad look come over their faces.

"We don't have a mom. But daddy's busy with the move so Aunt Ali brought us to the park. Then those kids started chasing Izzy and… we don't know where Aunt Ali is now." Masen said.

Crap, their aunt is probably freaking out by now.

I slowly stood up on wobbly legs, and brushed myself off. Ugh, I probably look like hell.

"Ok, let's see if we can find your aunt. She's gotta be worried sick about you guys." I told them and went to walk around the park, when I felt each of them take either pinky finger of mine with their own.

I stopped short and looked down, thinking that I was hallucinating. But sure enough, each of their pinky fingers was linked with both of mine.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. This is one of the things Edward and I used to do when we were at school. We would walk down the hall with our pinky fingers linked together, instead of holding hands. Holding hands, we thought, meant that we were dating and the other kids would probably tease us. But holding pinkies was less 'serious'. It became our thing. Everywhere we went, we'd hold the others pinky.

That was one thing I never shared with another friend. It was only Edward's and mine.

As we started walking again, I noticed a shorter woman, about my age, running around frantically, looking for something.

I tugged on the kids hands. "Hey, is that your aunt over there?"

"Yeah. She's probably already called daddy by now." Masen said then leaned over to Izzy in front of me. "We're in trouble, Iz." He whispered to her.

The woman started running over towards us with a phone to her ear. "Oh thank God!" And as she got closer, I could hear their conversation.

"Would you chill out? I found them. You don't have to send out the search dogs. Calm down." She said into the phone, which appeared to be on speaker.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? Are you shitting me right now, Alice? You lost my kids! They are all that I have! You know what kind of people could have taken them, Alice! You're lucky you're Jazz's fiancé…" he kept on ranting, and you could tell he was pissed that his kids had been lost.

I covered Masen and Izzy's ears on either side of their heads, and brought their other so it was pressed against my sides. Hopefully they wouldn't hear too much cursing from, what I'm guessing is their dad.

"E…Ed…E! Would you chill out! Little ears can hear you! Look, I found them, they seem to be safe. They were with a woman in the park…" she said into the phone, and then turned to me. "I'm sorry; I didn't get a chance to introduce myself with this crazy on the phone. I'm Alice Brandon, the kid's unofficial aunt. And you are?…"

"Bella. Nice to meet you." I shook her hand, but heard nothing from the phone for a while.

"E? You there?" Alice asked, thinking she lost the call.

"… Alice, are you in Forks?" The father asked hesitantly.

"Yes? Why?" Alice asked, really confused from where the conversation was going.

"….. B? Is that you…" the voice asked, and my body locked up on me, freezing me in place as it all came crashing down on me.

I thought I recognized the voice a little bit, but it was aged, older than I remember. For obvious reasons. And I didn't know why it surprised me so much. The kids were like mirror images of him. The bronze hair, pale skin, green eyes, the protective instinct that was instilled into Masen… Oh Jesus, I think I might faint again.

"Oh God…" I gasped, and then in another round of true Bella fashion, I fled.

When I made it back to my apartment, my tears were falling again.

_This has got to be the most emotional day of my life since…_ Stop! Just stop.

What am I going to do? I haven't seen him in almost twenty years. What if he hates me? What if I'm not what he remembers? What if I'm not good enough? I have no real direction in my life… what is he gonna say about that? Those are his kids; what the hell is the story there? They said they didn't have a mother… what happened to her? Was he married to her? Oh god, I can't deal with this.

I looked at the clock and noticed I had to get ready for work. I had to be at the bar so I could get things setup for the night.

I rushed to get a shower and blow dry my hair. I decided on jeans, a Beatles t-shirt, and some black boots. I threw my long hair up in a ponytail, leaving a few pieces down around my face.

I grabbed my keys and bag and made my way down to my old truck.

When I get to the bar, Mike, the owner, is already there. He's my age, and we actually went to school together.

His dad used to run _The Tavern,_ but when Mike said he wanted to get into the family business, his dad let him start working there, managing the place until he was ready to take over.

Mike was one of the many that was born in Forks, grew up in Forks, and was never going to leave Forks.

Most of the people born here ended up staying. They were comfortable, placated. They didn't want to leave their safe zone.

I did kind of want to get out of this town. I don't want to sound selfish, but I want to have my own life, away from the pressure of my parents. To not have to pick up the phone at six a.m. with my mom telling me to come over and help her with something because I'm ten minutes away. Or to not have to be _expected_ to go over to their place and cook dinner because my dad is 'too busy' to do it.

Seattle would be a great place for me, because it's far enough away that I don't have to worry about ten phone calls a day. And still close enough that I can make regular trips back every now and then.

But shouldn't I be able to just… _be_?

I'm brought out of my thoughts by Mike's voice.

"Hey Bella… What's wrong with you? You look a little rattled."

I shook my head and took off the grey jacket I had on and put it away with my bag.

"I'm fine. Just a rough afternoon. How's everything look for tonight?" I asked, trying to steer it back to safe topics. I didn't want to talk about my meltdown.

He stared at me for a moment, and then went behind the bar to check the glasses and bottles.

"It looks good. I'm gonna go grab a few cases of beer to bring up front. Just get the cases ready, make sure that everything's clean. Oh, the new girl is starting tonight. Her name is Jessica. Just train her, get her familiar with the place and hopefully she'll fit in. You remember her, don't you? She graduated with us."

Ah yes, Jessica Stanley. What a fucking tramp. She's slept with half of the male population of Forks and doesn't think she'll catch anything because 'it's a small town'… Really? You're that stupid that you think your not gonna get the clap from someone just because it's a small town? Give me a break.

_I bet she's contracted almost every STD known to man with the way she spreads her legs for anything with a dick…_

I digress. I really don't want to think about Jessica and… _Eww_. Just _EW._

"Yeah, Mike. I remember her. I don't think anyone in this town could forget Jessica." I said, with just a hint of sarcasm.

That's one thing you'll learn about me, I'm a sarcastic bitch sometimes.

He then scurried away to the back room to get the beer for the ice case.

Mike can be a bit of a pussy sometimes, too. He doesn't like confrontation.

_Oh fucking well. _I shrug.

I got busy getting the bar ready. Around five thirty, Jessica showed up wearing the tightest t-shirt and jeans possible.

_Why did I agree to train her? Oh right, I'm glutton for punishment in my life._

She immediately started flirting with all of the men in the bar. It didn't matter their age. She'd jump them here in the open bar if she wasn't afraid it would get back to her mom and dad. They think the sun shines out of her ass.

_I can't wait for the day they find out that she's nothing more than a hooker that doesn't get paid._

As the night went on, I could tell that the men in the bar were buying drinks for Jessica. She was slurring a few of her words and became a little flirtier, if that was possible.

It was about ten thirty, and there were still a bunch of people in the bar. Drawback for a Friday night; you don't get to close up early. _Damn it…_

I'm trying to keep the bar clean as I go. So as soon as the bar closes down, I've got a head start on getting the hell out of here at a decent hour.

I hear the front door open, but that's nothing new. What _is_ new is the feeling of something deep down, that is telling me that I need to turn around.

When I do, I drop the glass that I was drying.

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><p>Ok guys, so yes, the kids are his. The reason behind there not being a mother around will be revealed soon.<p>

Again, let me know if you have any thoughts on where the story should go, anything you might want to happen. I'm open to suggestions. We'll see where it goes.

I hope you guys are enjoying it. I really enjoy writing it. 3(in actuality it's 4, but I'm not counting the outtake. So there:p lol) is in the works, so 2 weeks should be our timeline for that.


	3. Chapter 3

WOW! Really, just wow. I'm still so shocked at how many of you are reading and responding to this story. I appreciate it more than you guys know. And if I haven't responded to all of the reviews yet, I'm sorry. Still a little crazy around here. I'm gonna work on responding to all of them.

I will say this; there was a rather negative review that I got for this story. The nature of said review was very hurtful, and rude. I did not appreciate it. If you're going to read this story, then say 'oh this sucks', then don't send me a huge long review saying what was said. If you don't want to read this story, then don't read it. I respect people's opinions, but to make the huge production that was made with the length of the review, is completely unnecessary. If you don't like it, then simply say you don't like it and stop reading. Other people are reading this story and I don't want that negativity in this space(what I like to call my p.s. or personal space). Thanks guys.

Just a little insider; Charlie is a bit of an asshole in this story. And Renee is… well a pain in the ass and likes to harp on Bella, a lot. One of those over bearing types. There's a first look at Renee at the end of this chapter. Not much, but there's still a little bit.

Lola(LaurieWhitlock) is stiiiillllllllll my beta. And awesome person:p muahs. (oh and I added towards the end:p forgot I wanted to put that in )

And SM owns it, not I.

Read on my peeps!

And as always, do enjoy your reading;)

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><p>BPOV<p>

I'm stuck, staring at blue eyes that I haven't seen in so long, I almost forgot how sharp they were. Eyes that could be incredibly kind and warm, but now I see that they could also be really lethal. I could see it when he looked around the room at the men in the bar. Like he didn't trust a single person in there.

He looks like a fucking soldier.

That's exactly what he reminds me of. How he surveys the room, knows his surroundings, how he stands and carries himself.

Right now, he's the closest link I have to Edward, so I launch myself across the room, into his waiting arms.

"I got ya, Little B, I got ya." I hear Jasper say, which causes a slight sob to escape.

I notice I've got a death grip on him, so I loosen my arms around his waist and look up at him.

_Damn, he got tall._

His longer, kinda shaggy blond hair reminds me of how it was when he was little. Jasper's was always shaggy, whereas Edward's was a shorter mess of chaos sitting on top of his head.

"What are you doing here?" I asked a little bewildered.

"I know where you're going with that one, and the answer is, I was the first one to find you. He got an emergency call and had to go back to deal with one of his businesses. It was a huge deal that he couldn't let slip. Trust me, he was more than a little pissed when he called me." He gave me that lop-sided smile.

"Oh Jazz, I didn't mean-"

"Nope, it's alright. I know what you meant. He was on the phone with me when he was on his way here, and told me to come help him. But when he got here, and started looking, his phone started ringing off the hook. But don't worry, you will see him soon." Jasper always knows how to deal with me. He's just like his damn brother.

I look at him again, really look at him. He looks so much like he did when we were little, just filled out and really tall. He's muscled and toned, tan and just totally my Jazzy.

"You look good, Jazzy. I really missed you." I hug him tightly again.

"You do too, sis. You're all grown up and so beautiful. I missed you, too." He whispered into my hair.

"Uh, Bella?" I heard my name being called and turned my head to see Mike looking at me weird. "The bar?"

_Whoops! Forgot I was in a bar, much less working. Damn._

I pulled back from Jasper and tugged on his arm.

"Come on, I'll buy you a beer. You can tell me about what you've been up to for the last twenty years."

He followed me to the end of the bar, and sat on a stool while I went behind the bar to grab him a beer.

"So did I hear right, that you're _engaged_?" I asked him, exaggerating the last word just to mess with him.

He laughed, but there was also a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah, I guess you kinda met her." I nodded. "She's a spitfire and I love her, dearly. She may be a ball of energy, but she's so in tuned with me. You remember how I was when I was little. I was always quiet, laidback, and just go with the flow. I still am, among other things. But Alice… Alice gets me, and still brings a huge energy to our relationship. We balance each other out." He explained, with the happiest look on his face. Like he's never been happier in his whole life.

I want to feel that way.

"I envy you…" I couldn't stop the words from coming out.

"Why do you say that, Little B?" He suddenly had a worried look as he leaned across the bar.

"You're so happy and in love. I just wish I could feel a quarter of what I see in you right now…" I trailed off, wondering if I'd ever get to feel love like Alice and Jasper, obviously have.

And he did look like he was so in love. Happy, fulfilled, proud to call someone his. The little glint in his eye when he talked about Alice. It was something almost private, but so captivating to see.

"Bella how is it possible that you haven't found, at least, someone that you love, and loves you in return? You're a beautiful woman, smart, witty. What's not to love?" He smiled.

"Damn it Jazz, don't do that. Love doesn't exist for me. And I'm really none of those things. I'm not that pretty, I'm not educated past high school, and the witty part is only because of the shit I've had to deal with, I've had to resort to snark and sarcasm to not just break down and cry at random. It hasn't been easy living with my family and I just… I don't want to talk about this right now. Can we do that… some other time?" I asked, looking around, seeing a few of the men in the bar watching us.

_They can all suck it. It's not like they make life any better around here._

Jasper, knowing when to pick his battles, gives in, nodding.

"So, what is there to do around here? All I remember is the park, and I don't think I'm small enough to play on the playground." He laughed.

Of course, I smiled at that. "Not much. Small towns don't usually have shit going on, or anywhere to hang out, unless you're one of the 'cool kids' and you go hang out in the back of trucks and on the hoods of cars in the parking lot of the grocery store. This town is about as boring as it gets. You have to go to P.A. or Seattle to do anything." I shake my head. This town sucks ass sometimes. "Anyways, tell me how you met Alice. She seems really great. In that cute, sweet, almost annoyingly perky kind of way." I laughed when he started nodding at what I said.

"She is great. We met when we moved to Chicago. She was in mine and Edward's class and no one really hung out with her on the first day, so Edward and I asked her if she wanted to play with us. She was a little hesitant at first, but she just shrugged and took both of our hands and dragged us over to the playground. We just fell into a friendship. We always hung out with each other and it was like… how it was here, with you." I felt a pang of jealousy that they found someone to hang out with that was essentially replacing me in their lives.

I took a deep breath to fight back the tears I felt. But Jasper, ever the one to read me like a damn book, knows what I'm thinking and feeling, and reached across the bar to grab my hand.

I just shook my head, and walked out the back door. I didn't want to go through all of this emotional shit. I was so tired of being emotionally punched in the gut. That's all it's ever been for me, living with my parents and in this town. And then living without the only people that ever made it better, didn't help matters.

I heard the back door open, and felt his warm arms around me, holding me to him.

"Little B, no one-trust me- no one could ever replace you in our hearts. We missed you every single day." He told me, squeezing his arms around me.

I looked up at him and let the tears fall. "Then why did you never come back, until now? We're all twenty-six, and I haven't seen any of you in almost twenty years. Don't you think I would have liked to see you, get a call, something from either of you to know that you were ok, and happy? Or just to hear your voice?"

It took him a moment before he decided to speak again.

"Sweetheart, I don't know if you ever noticed, but mom and dad always had someone, not far away, that would check up on you. They didn't really tell us. I only know because I worked on the finances for the family and noticed something going to a guy based out of this area. So I asked dad and he told me. They wanted to make sure you were always safe, due to some of the family business. They didn't want any of it to come into contact with your life. It's not something that I can tell you about right now, but dad wanted to be on the safe side. So they knew you were ok, but neither Edward nor I did. Any time we would ask, they would always say that you were fine. They heard about Renee getting sick, but not much else was told to us. We finally just stopped asking. We weren't sure why we couldn't come visit you, either. It just ended up being the same thing with the guy that checked in on you. No one was suppose to know we were ever here." He explained to me, in a low voice.

"Why, Jazz? Why were there people that weren't suppose to know? Were you guys in some sort of trouble?" I asked, a little worried.

"No, nothing really bad. Look, I can't tell you everything, but the reason we came here was to get away from Chicago for a while. Dad's business was in a little trouble, but when it was back in working order, we had to go back. We didn't have a lot of choices. But we're here, now. I know Edward is dying to see you, and you know mom will be chomping at the bit to see you, too. She's really missed you."

"I miss mama Es, too." I burrowed back into his chest, just wishing all the shit in my life would go away.

"I know you do, sweetie. That's why Edward asked me to see if you had tomorrow off. He wants me to bring you home."

_Home._ Home was always where they were.

In the years since they left, it never really felt like home, here. The emotional warfare that kept going on with my parents and all just keeps wearing me down. Especially when people tell you things enough times that are the most hurtful and asinine things, you start to believe them. It's a huge kick to your self esteem.

"No, I'm not working tomorrow. But I can't just pick up and leave…" I started to say, but damn it, I haven't seen these people in years. People that have been my family, and I'm tired of being my parent's doormat. I'm gonna go do something for _ME_. I don't even remember the last time I've actually done that…_ probably the last time I got a tattoo…_ "You know what? Yes, I'll go. I need this."

"Great. When do you get out of here?" He asked, smiling.

"Um, probably midnight. I'll tell Mike he can close up. So we're going back tonight? Won't they all be asleep? I don't want to wake them up, Jazz." I started protesting. I really hate being an imposition to people.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Edward's business runs late into the night… um… so we don't really have to worry about him being awake. Esme and Carlisle may be at home, but I'm sure you'll be able to see them tomorrow."

I could tell he didn't want to tell me a whole lot about whatever Edward did, which had me a little worried. What if he's not the same guy I remember? What if he's changed so much that I don't even know him anymore?

"You're over-thinking stuff, aren't you?" He asked me, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Shut it. I can't help it. You know I've always been this way. Trying to solve everyone else's problems but my own. One of my downfalls, I'm afraid." At that, he did laugh.

"Oh my sweet little B. I don't know how we've gone without you for so long. But I'm glad we've got you back in our lives."

I just looked at him for a few minutes, just taking him in again. "You're really here? You're sure I'm not just dreaming and have lost my mind, completely? Because that's very possible. I could've had a psychotic break, and just gone off the handle.-Ouch! Fuck, Jazz!" I yelped when he reached out and pinched my arm.

"See? You're awake." He tried to say with a serious face.

"You're supposed to pinch yourself! Not someone else!" I argued, rubbing the spot that got pinched.

"You're the one that thought you were dreaming or lost your mind. I was just helping you out."

"Oh right…" He burst out laughing then. I reached back and punched him in the arm. "Not funny, Jazz!"

"Ow! Damn girl, you've got some bite in you. Where'd you learn to punch like that?" He asked, rubbing where I hit.

We turned to head back into the bar while I told him. "I took some self defense and boxing classes in P.A. after… some shit happened. So, yeah, I can hit kinda hard." I leave it there, not wanting to tell him the whole story about what happened in high school. No one knows about that…

He just looks at me, wanting me to tell him more, but I narrow my eyes at him, and shake my head.

"We're talking in the car, young lady." He says in a totally serious voice.

I couldn't help but laugh at his tone and mock salute him. "You do realize that you guys are only like three months older than me, right?" I ask with a laugh.

"I'm serious, B. You're not gonna say something like that and not expect me not to want to know what the hell happened." He stops me before we get back to the bar. "You're my sister, and I love you. I want to know if everything is ok with you, even if mom and dad said you've been fine all these years. I want to hear it from you." He says in a low voice. He's always been more of a brother to me than my own, and it makes me want to cry again at how much I know he means it.

"I'll… try, Jazz. It's hard for me to talk about stuff, sometimes. And no… I'm not really ok. Inside, I've felt like I'm in a never ending spiral, just stuck here with people that want to walk all over me. But to the outside world, I'm just peachy. Looks can be deceiving." I tell him, and then walk the rest of the way to the bar.

I got back to work for a little while. It wasn't long until we were closing up, so the crowd was thinning out. Jasper had come back and was sitting at his previous spot at the bar, looking at me with what looked like pity.

"Don't look at me like that, Jazz. Okay? I don't want your pity." I told him as I passed by him, so others couldn't really hear.

He stopped me with his hand, again when I was walking back behind the bar.

"Then what _do_ you want, little B?" He asked, with his eyes boring into mine.

"I just want my friend, Jasper." I whispered back to him.

"You have me, baby girl." He smiled at me.

I leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and rushed off to get the rest of the stuff done, so I could get the hell out of here.

"Aw, is the virgin Mary going to get that cherry popped, finally?" Jessica asked, snidely as she walked by us.

I was tired of being called that, when they knew that I wasn't. Half of the senior class knew about it because some people have a big mouth.

I stood there, straightened out my back and turned to her.

"Fuck off, Jessica! I don't know why you care if I'm a virgin or not, not that it's any of your god damn business. I'm tired of your shit. Just because you spread your legs for the whole damn town, doesn't mean the rest of us do the same. Now, I know you probably fucked Mike, so he would give you this job, and you're shitty at it, but that doesn't give you the right to talk shit to someone who is higher up than you." I then turned to Mike, who was watching the whole thing. "Mike, I'm getting the hell out of here. I've had a rough day as it is, and my friend is waiting for me to finish up here. So if you don't mind, you and Jessica can close up. You can fire me if you want, but I'm done with her for the night." I then turned to Jasper, who had a shocked look on his face. I walked over and grabbed his arm and pulled him from the stool. "Come on Jasper. I want to get the hell out of this town." I whispered to him as we made our way outside.

Once we're outside, I walk towards my truck with Jasper following me.

"So, you wanna tell me what that was all about?" He asks me in a serious voice.

Ugh, ok try to distract.

"The hokey pokey." I tell him as I turn around when I get to the driver door of my truck.

"_What_?" He asks me, really confused.

Good, he's distracted.

"The hokey pokey is what it's all about." I tell him, seriously as if it's the most obvious answer in the world.

He smiles slightly, and then lets out a small laugh. "Nice try, B, but we've got a long drive ahead of us, and you're riding with me. So let's go drop off your truck, you can grab a few things, and we can head out." I just nod, and jump into my truck and head to my apartment.

I can see the large SUV pull up behind me when we get there, and I jump out and head towards the building. I'm hoping he knows he can follow me.

"This is your place?" He asks when we walk into my apartment.

It's nothing big. Just a studio apartment with a kitchen and small dining area on one side. And a couch, TV, chair and coffee table that takes up most of the open area. And then I made a separating wall out of old shipping pallets, then painted different sized ring-circles on it in shades of purple, green and white. Beyond that is just my bed, a dresser and armoire. And then there was a small bathroom.

"Yeah, Jazz. This is all I can afford and still be in town. It's all I really need right now. Why, what's wrong with it?" I asked as I was getting some stuff together.

"Bells, it's not really that safe around here. There's no security at the door, no doorman." He said, like it was the biggest deal in the world.

"Jasper, this is Forks. The only real crime that happens around here, is speeding, drinking and driving, and a few times there have been vandalism to the school. Other than that, nothing happens here." I told him.

He just stared at me, not wavering.

"Ugh, Jasper, really, don't give me that look. I'm a big girl-" I started but he cut me off.

"B, you don't know what's out there." He said, trying to stay calm.

"And you do?" I asked as I was getting my toiletries together.

"More than you know, sweetheart." He said, lowly from right next to me.

I looked up at him to see a fierce look in his eyes.

"What aren't you telling me?" I asked, giving him my full attention.

He looked around. "Not now."

"You know, I hate double standards." I said as a walked by him back to my bag.

"It's not for me to tell, B. There are some things that I just can't tell you."

"Fine." I looked around to see if there was anything else I needed before we left. I felt around my neck real quick to make sure my locket was still there. "I think I've got everything. You ready?"

"Yeah. Here, let me." He said as he took my bag and we headed down to his SUV.

"You drive a Hummer? What the hell, Jazz. When did you get to like this kind of stuff?" I asked as I, literally, jumped up into this huge ass vehicle.

"Hey! Don't hate on it. This thing is awesome. Great for work, play and all sorts of stuff." He wiggled his eyebrow at me; I playfully smacked him in the arm.

"I need to call and let Renee know that I'm not gonna be around this weekend. She'll have a conniption fit if I'm not at my place or don't answer my phone right away" I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my parent's place.

It rang a few times before I heard the phone being picked up.

"Hello?" I heard Renee ask.

"Hey mom. Umm. I didn't think you would be up. I was just gonna leave a message." I told her, wishing she'd been asleep so I didn't have to deal with this right now. I could have just left a message and listened to her scolding me later.

"Yeah, well you know how I am during the night. So what's going on? Why are you calling so late?" She asked, and I knew I hadn't woken her up. This was her normal thing. She would wake up several time during the night, and I caught her at one of those times.

"I'm heading to Seattle with a friend for the weekend, so I wont be able to come over til I get back. So don't panic if I'm not at home. I'll call you when I'm back, ok?" I knew what was coming. It never failed.

"What? Bella, it's twelve thirty in the morning. Why the hell are you driving all the way to Seattle, right now? Couldn't you have waited til the morning? And you just up and left without talking to me about it? This is so irresponsible of you, probably as much as it was when you got those damn tattoos. I don't know what has gotten into you in the past few years, but you need to remember that you have responsibilities, little girl." And cue the guilt trip and 'responsibility' card.

"Mom, really, I'm just gonna be gone for a couple of days. I think you can handle things for that long." I told her, trying not to lose my cool. I didn't want to snap at her.

"Bella, that's not the point. You just pick up and run off to do god knows what, in Seattle. Do you know how dangerous it is in that city? This better not be because of some boy, Isabella-" I ended the call before she could finish, and threw it in the floorboard. I was done listening to her shit. It's always the same damn thing.

"You alright, B?" I heard Jasper ask, not realizing my eyes were shut, tightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. She just pisses me off, sometimes."

As we drove out of Forks, he asked me what I know he's been wanting to know about.

"Alright, start talking, baby girl. Why did you have to go take those classes?"

_Damn it. _This is not something I like talking about.

"I, uh…" My throat wanted to close up from thinking about this shit. "Um, I was almost raped…"

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><p>Sooooooo, like? Don't like?<p>

Yeah, I know, I left you guys with a cliffy….again. Lol. Sorry, I can't help it. The next chapter will have a bit of a description of what happened to Bella hen she was almost raped. I'm warning you now, and will again at the beginning of the next chapter. It wont be hugely graphic, but it does pretty much tell you what happened. I will put markers in if you don't want to read that part. It's just 2 small parts.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed it. I do really appreciate your reviews and thoughts on this story.

We may see some Edward in the next chapter. I've only got half of it written so far, but it's looking good for some Edward time. *smiles*

Until next time,

Laters!


	4. Chapter 4

Helllllloooo all my lovelies! You guys still blow me away! I'm so incredibly grateful at the amount of people that are reading, alerting, favoriting, and reviewing. It makes me want to write even more.

And to everyone that reviewed, thank you soooo so much! It helps me to know if I'm going in the right direction or not. (at least I hope I'm going in the right direction. Lol)

Ok, one little switch that I have made was the name of the bar that Bella works at in Forks. It used to be _New Moon Bar_, it is now _Cedar Creek Tavern._ I know, I should have just done it that way from the start, but when I was working on this chapter, and what I have in mind for later, I had to use New Moon for something else:p

Anyhoo, so with this chapter, I did warn you in the last one, that there is some 'rape matter' in this chapter. It's nothing too harsh, but the intent is still there. So if you don't want to read that part (it's just a small bit) then I have marked it off where you can skip it. It's only 2 little paragraphs that are marked.

And as always, Lola(LaurieWhitlock) is my beta. And all around awesome person.

And SM owns Twilight, I own a copy of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' by E.L. James (Who else read MOTU? Show of hands.) I loooooooved it;p *fans self*

And on that note, read on, my lovelies!

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><p>BPOV<p>

The truck swerved slightly, but Jasper got control of it, quickly.

"God damn it, B! Could you've at least given a guy a warning before you just spit that out?" He asked in an exasperated voice, and I cringed a little. I usually did when people yelled at me. It usually meant I was getting blamed for something.

"Sorry." I muttered. "But you are the one that wanted to know, so don't blame me."

"You're right, I'm sorry. That just caught me off guard." He said as he settled in to his seat better. "So… You wanna tell me what happened?" I could see his hand clench on the steering wheel.

*"Umm…" God, I hate that I'm telling him this, but I trust him. "I was in high school when it happened. I… lost my virginity to a guy, and then he shot his mouth off to his buddies, saying that he 'nailed the prude'. I actually thought he liked me. But, umm, one of his friends thought I'd be an easy lay, so he cornered me at school, in one of the empty hallways, where no one really went around to… He, umm… told me that Seth said I was a pretty nice piece of ass, and started feeling me up… I tried to push his hands away from me…" Why am I telling him so much… Damn it. May as well get it off my chest. "He put his hand over my mouth because I kept telling him to stop and to leave me alone. He yanked my pants down to my knees… Gah, Jazz, I can't do this!" I yelled as I pulled my knees up to my chest and started sobbing.*

I felt, more than saw, Jasper pull off to the side of the road, and heard him unclick his seatbelt.

"Come here, B." He cooed, then I undid my seatbelt and crawled over into his lap.

He held me as I cried my eyes out.

"Bella, you don't have to, but can you tell me… what else happened? Who it was?" He asked in a very low voice.

*I took a deep, shuttering breath and tried to finish. "Umm, he pulled my shirt and bra up so he could get to my chest. He put his fingers…umm… and started saying all this dirty talk to me. Telling me how much I wanted it, how good he was gonna fuck me. I started thrashing around when he was undoing his pants. I tried to scream, tried to get out of his hold. But I couldn't. He was literally about to push into me when he heard someone coming down the hall. Then he kissed me hard and shoved me into the wall and ran. I pulled my pants back up and my shirt back down and just sat there for at least an hour, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. You're the only person that knows." I looked up and saw so much anger and fury in his eyes. It made me a little afraid of him. But as much as it hurt to relive what happened, it also felt better to not keep it all to myself, for once. Like it wasn't bottled up as tightly.*

"Can you tell me who it was, B?" He asked in a frighteningly calm, eerie voice.

"His name was Jake. His dad and my dad are friends. They go fishing together all the time. Jazz, don't do anything, okay?" I asked, making sure he didn't go do something stupid. I didn't want to cause problems for him if he got in trouble.

He looked down at me then, and I saw fierce loyalty in his eyes.

"Bella, that guy violated you. You should never be touched against your will like that. Sweetheart, why didn't you tell someone? Your parents? Anyone."

"Jazz, no one would have believed me. Jake has always been this… popular guy, and kind of privileged. He gets whatever he wants, whoever he wants. His dad is the chief on the reservation in La Push. He's always been able to play the innocent card when things don't go in his favor-" I said, when I saw something click in his mind.

"Are you talking about Jacob Black?" He said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, why?" I didn't know how Jasper knew him, but it didn't look like a good thing.

I saw his jaw clench, then he looked back down at me. He kissed the side of my head. "You need to tell Edward. That's something that he needs to know about. Come on, let's get back on the road, baby girl." He patted my back so I'd get back in my seat.

We were quiet as we got back on the road to Seattle.

"Is that… is that why you said that you weren't ok? What exactly did you mean by that?" He asked, quietly, still looking out the front window.

I knew I could trust Jasper. He was my friend, my brother. I may not have seen him in almost twenty years, but I still knew he'd never judge me or anything.

"Part of it. I don't really like people touching me. I flinch when they do. Well, most of the time. If I know, and trust someone, it's not as bad. Like with you, I don't really flinch as much. Mom, dad, Char sometimes, Garrett, anyone else that makes my life a living hell, and I don't trust, I can't stand to have them really close or touch me. Or unless I initiate contact. That's the only other way I can stand to be touched.

"The other part is that I get walked all over by my family, and everyone else. I kinda just take it when people give me shit. Tonight, I think, was the first time I've really stood up to someone like that. I just got tired of taking shit from Jessica. I don't really know what pushed me to do it, though. I usually just let it go, and burry that in the back of my mind. I guess I'm reaching my limits with some of it."

He looked thoughtful for a few minutes. I didn't want to disturb his contemplation, so I just stayed quiet.

After a while, he finally spoke.

"Bella… have your parents ever hurt you? Like physically hit you, or anything?" He whispered.

I hesitated for a few moments. Do I tell him Charlie would smack us around? Would he be upset that I didn't stand up for myself sooner?

"Bella?" He asked, bringing me out of my questioning thoughts.

"Well, yeah. Charlie would hit us sometimes, when we were younger… He was always a drunk and would come in the house and… take out his anger and frustration on us. Renee got a lot of it too. But most of it has been emotional abuse that can be… pretty crippling, at times. He's not a nice man… like at all. I don't think he has a heart anywhere in him.

"When Charlotte and Garrett saw their ticket out of Forks, they took it and ran. Char went to college to become a teacher, got married, move to Seattle, and had two kids that I love dearly. And Garrett went to college, changed majors three times, then graduated and got married. They moved to Portland and have their own little boy, who I love too. They got their 'out', I didn't. Shit happened when I was about to graduate, and there was nothing for me to go to school on. No one made a fuss over that fact either. Like they didn't care, one way or the other. So, I guess I just got stuck here, taking care of my mom since Charlie is an ass and doesn't want to take his god damn wedding vows seriously." I grumbled the last part because, really, what kind of tool looks the other way when your spouse has a serious illness and needs help and to be looked after, and said they would be there for them, in sickness and in health? He wasn't really there in the health part, anyways.

"Wait, they don't care that you want to do something that _you_ want? What about your dreams? They wouldn't help with student loans or anything?" He asked, like he couldn't believe what I was telling him.

"No, I don't think they really do care. Renee has asked why I don't go to school, but it's in a way that says, 'why the hell aren't you doing anything with your life? Why aren't you like you sister and brother? They've got the perfect life, and you're doing nothing important'. It's never been positive encouragement from either of them. It's always been mom and Charlie hounding me to get a job, get out of their house, all of this shit. But then they didn't have a problem telling me to stay and take care of my mom. And I'm sorry if I didn't know right out of high school what I wanted to do, but I do have dreams of what I want to do, now, damn it. It doesn't include taking care of her every need when her husband promised to be the one to look after her, but is too 'busy' to do it… I just don't get why my life had to be put on hold like that. I get that I would have understood if I had gotten pregnant, back then, but… I'm just gonna shut up now. I don't need to unload all of this on you. I've already told you enough for you to probably be board." I can't believe I went on rambling about my stupid life when I'm sure he'd rather not hear all of that.

"No, B. I want to what's been going on with you. That includes the bad stuff, too. It's obviously had a big impact on who you are now. So spill it, sister." Jasper said, making me think that, maybe I would have some sort of an ally in my life.

"I just don't want you to think I'm just a whiny little brat, or something." I told him, quietly. And he just gave me a look that said 'start talking'. "Well… I guess I can just start from the beginning." I went on to tell him about my life since they left; the good, the bad and the ugly. I told him about Renee's diagnosis, Charlie being the biggest douche in the world and hitting his kids, the emotional abuse we went through, about Charlotte and Peter's kids, and Garrett and Kate's son, just everything I could think of on the road to Seattle. He pretty much knew most everything about me when we started driving through the city.

"So, where is it that we're headed to?" I asked him, looking out at the buildings we passed by.

"Edward has a couple of businesses that he acquired here, and he's been working on getting them running how he wants. So he's probably at the hotel. It's called Village Inn Hotel, but he's planning to change it to New Moon Hotel. He has a bar/club, not far from downtown, too. Well, it will be a bar/club. He's been working on getting renovations done on it. It's called Eclipse. Alice and I are both going to be working there. Running things for him and making sure the staff works to his specifications. He's kind of strict when it comes to the people that work for him. He wants thing perfect." Jasper explained as we rounded a corner where there was a huge hotel sitting right in front of us. I could still see the 'Village Inn Hotel' letters written on the doors and the huge sign on the building, but I could see this place with a different name. something more up to date. "Welcome to the future New Moon Hotel." He smiled at me as we got out of the Hummer.

"Wow. This place is stunning. It's not like normal hotels. And I like the new name for it. It's really different. Something you would definitely remember." I said, looking at the hotel in awe. It reminded me of something but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was almost like… wait a second…"Hold on. Are you sure we're not at Hogwart's castle? Because that's what I'm getting in my mind right now. Just a little bit. That's what this place reminds me of. That old, kind of castle feel. With the old brick, and the dark roof and some of the windows up into the points of the roof, almost like towers… It's so cool." I was pretty much whispering because it felt like if I talked louder, then this dream-like place would vanish.

It really did kind of look like Hogwart's castle. Not so much that there were towers everywhere, but there were lots of places where the roof would come to a point for several floors. I could count at least three points, like that. And I guess you could say they were kind of like towers, in a way. They were standing high and proud away from the rest of the flat roof. It was unlike anything else I'd seen before. It was charming and rustic, and beautiful at the same time. No wonder Edward bought this place. It would be worth a ton if it was done up right on the inside.

As we walked in the front doors, I am struck by the hugely high ceilings, that are made of square, blue glass panes. It curves up behind the front desk, and in front of that, it domes into an huge oval-like circle. At night, it has the most beautiful blue look that gives off that cool-nighttime look. In the daytime, I bet it is so bright and open. From what I can see, the panes are an opaque blue. I think it adds to the place.

There are curves and beams and brick everywhere. The brick is all along the bottom half of the room. It is mostly white brick, but there are darker bricks scattered sporadically in a pattern. It really brightens it up and reflects the blue that you see coming from the glass ceiling.

It's very modern, but at the same time, a little rustic. Kind of like the outside. The sitting chairs are low, and very comfortable looking. But to me, this place is one of those that is sparsely decorated. I'd love to see just a little bit more in here. It would be so beautiful. Even more than it is now. I wonder if they're planning on remodeling.

I also notice that since it's so late at night, there is hardly anyone around. Except at the front desk. It's completely vacant of people. I can appreciate the openness of the lobby, now.

"Jasper, this hotel is… too much for words. I never knew something like this existed. I love it." I told him, still in awe of such an amazing place.

I kept looking around for a few minutes, just taking in the whole place.

"You know, we can give you your own standing room, if you want. Edward and the kids will live on one level of one of the 'spindles' or 'points', as he likes to call them. And Alice and I are going to be on a level below him. He's planning on blocking off that whole area and making into, kind of a 'home base' for the family. Alice and I'll find an actual house, at some point, but we just figured we may as well stay here for a while, then find what we're really looking for.

"And I know Edward wants to find a house where the twins can run around in a big back yard, but he wanted to get things going, then he'll start looking too. But we've both said that we'll keep those 'suites' for whenever we just want to get away, or something. I mean, how could you not want to stay in this place, all the time?" He asked, rhetorically. And I had to agree with him, this place was too cool for school.

"I know I'd never leave. This place is just… there are no words. And you said he was gonna do work on it? What's there to work on? I think it's fantastic." I told him as I looked around for even the slightest the that could be wrong. I wasn't seeing much that I would change.

"Well, the rooms, he wants to change, make them updated. They're working on a demo room, now, to get the final ok so we can go ahead and do all of the rooms. Since the floor is completely white all through the lobby, he wanted to do a design on it, just to break it up a bit. There are a few things Edward wants to add to the lobby. As you can see, it's a very minimally decorated area. He just wants to add some touches here and there. The bones of this place are amazing, but he wants to focus on the rooms. Alice is actually helping him with the design. That's one of the things she's great at.

"Soo, what do you think about that room for you? You're family, so you get dibs." He smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

It sounded so great to me. I loved the ideas that he was telling me. And my own room sounded awesome, too. But I really hated putting people out like that. I didn't want anyone going out of the way just for me. If they had stuff to get done, I didn't want to hinder it. And I'd never really use the room… would I? I don't know ho often I would be in Seattle anyways. God knows the kind of grief my mother would throw my way when I got back to Forks.

"I don't know, Jazz. I wouldn't be in town that often. Wouldn't that just be going to waste on me? I don't want to cause any problems."

"B, really, it's no problem. Look, we'll talk to Edward, and we can work out the logistics of it. I know I'd really like for you to have your own space here, whenever you want to come to town. Of course, mom and dad would love to have you at their home, but this would just let you be able to get away when you really want to. Where you can just be and not worry about anyone else. I would also feel better knowing that you're close by. So that if you ever needed one of us, we're right there." He sure knew how to sell it, didn't he? And it as sooo damn tempting.

"I'm not saying a full 'yes', but I am going to say a very large 'maybe'. I really would love to have a place, here in the city. If you tell me I can at least pay for some or all of it, then we've got a deal, right now." I smiled over at him.

He walked over and slung an arm over my shoulders. "Baby girl, you're family. And when does family ever have to pay? Hmm? Besides, this place already rakes in the dough. When Edward gets it finished up, it'll bring in even more. So you have nothing to worry about. He's even got plans for a place for our Aunt Liz, Uncle Ed, our cousin, Emmett, and his wife, Rosalie. You see? Everyone is going to have their own area. And if I know Edward, he wont give you a choice. You'll already have a room assigned to you and a key in your pocket." He said, smiling at something over my shoulder.

"You couldn't be more right, Jazz. Now, let me see my girl." I heard from behind me, the sweetest, richest, mouth-watering voice ever.

I turned a little to see him as he was walking over to us. He stopped dead in his tracks and his jaw fell open. Surely, I don't look that bad… Right?

He was looking at me like he almost couldn't believe it. I probably had the same look, but just seeing him, and how much he's grown, and how… utterly fucking gorgeous he's become, was breathtaking.

His hair was the same mess it's always been. His eyes are still so vibrant and green. His face… holy shit. He had great bone structure when he was little, but, fuck me sideways, he had the face of a god. And his body, just wow. So well built, muscular, lean and… I may have purred a little bit. He was blissful to look at.

_God damn it, why can't I ever get a guy like this? No wonder he made gorgeous babies… I wonder what our babies would look… Whhhaaaaatttt? Get yourself together, Swan. This is no time to lose your mind. That'd never happen anyways, remember?_

Thanks a lot, inner voice. And fuck you very much. Rain on my damn parade, as usual…

I see Edward try to shake whatever haze he's in, off, and focus back on me again. I try to do the same, but he's just so fucking sexy.

"My sweet Beauty. God, how I've missed you." He says in a voice full of reverence, that I'm not sure I deserve.

Nevertheless, I run over to where he's standing and wrap my arms around his waist, and burry my face into his chest. I inhale his scent and it's just as a I remember it, maybe even better.

I feel him wrap his arms, tightly around me and feel his cheek resting on top of my head.

_This feels so right. So perfect. This has always been what home felt like to me. Edward, Jasper, Esme and Carlisle. Always my safe haven._

I don't realize I'm crying until I hear Edward's voice.

"Shh, B. It's ok, honey. I've got you." He coos. And then I hear him whisper, "And I'm never letting you go, again."

When I've calmed down, I pull away from him a little to look at him, properly. "God, you're even more beautiful then I remember…" I whisper, hoping I didn't say it where anyone could hear it, but I guess I was wrong.

A huge smile lights up Edward's face and he leans down and kisses my forehead. "No, my gorgeous girl, that would be you. You've grown into a stunning woman." He said in a low, but steady voice.

I think I melted into goo…

I blushed at his comment. I'd never really thought of myself as beautiful. More plain and not exciting.

"I can't believe you're really here." I said, still not believing he was standing in front of me.

I heard a throat clear behind him, and looked over to see an irritated blond.

_Ugh, just what I need, more blondes to ruin my night._

Edward sighed and introduced us.

"Bella, this is my assistant for the hotel, Tanya. Tanya, this is one of my very best friends, Bella. She has family rights, so if she needs anything, or any of us, she doesn't wait. Do you understand?"

Tanya gave a forced, seductive smile to him. "Of course, Eddie." then she glared at me and turned to walk off.

I felt myself bristle at her actions. She, obviously wants Edward. And seems like the conniving bitch type. God knows what she'll be up to and what hell she'll bring to my life because I'm attached to Edward.

"I think we should head upstairs so Bella can get settled in. We can go see mom and dad tomorrow morning. Alice should be back with the kids by then." Edward said, and handed me a key. "This is to your room. It's in the east 'point'. There is a special elevator that only goes up to those levels. I'll show you which one it is." He paused and handed me another key. "This is for the elevator. Put it in the slot, and it allows you access to any of the floors in the east 'point'. You'll be on the twelfth floor. The whole floor is yours. Jazz and Alice are on thirteen, above you. I'll be on fourteen. Rosalie and Emmett, my cousin, will be on fifteen. Mom and dad, and Uncle Ed and Aunt Liz will be on the eleventh floor. It's the biggest on of the whole point, so we can easily have each of them share the floor. Plans for your suite are already done. I'll let you look at them and if you don't like something, you can change it. It's your space. And any areas in the suite that you want done, specifically, like an office, gym, anything, let me know." He smiled and turned to look at Jasper. "Let's grab those and head up." He pointed at my bags that we left sitting on the floor when we came in. It was only two.

"Solo così si so, il cane ha un proiettile con il suo nome su di esso. Appena girato alla cima della lista di merda zio J." I heard Jasper mutter, in Italian, to Edward while they were getting the bags.

Edward looked at Jasper, questioningly. I'm not sure what Jasper did, but he must have indicated to me, because Edward's eyes drifted over to me, then snapped back to Jasper.

I saw something click in his mind. My Italian was a little rusty, but I guessed he was talking about Jacob, but wasn't sure why they called him the dog. He was a dog though…

And from what I could understand, I think Jacob has a bullet with his name on it.

Edward knew something had happened, but not exactly what. His head whirled back around to me, and I saw fire, rage and fury in his eyes.

_Oh Shit!_

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><p>'Solo così si so, il cane ha un proiettile con il suo nome su di esso. Appena girato alla cima della lista di merda zio J' - 'Just so you know, the dog has a bullet with his name on it. He just shot up to the top of uncle J's shit list.'<p>

Again, if my Italian words and phrases are off, blame bing translator. That's where I usually go to get my translations.

Ok, the hotel has kind of got a Hogwart's feel to it. Not too much. Not all the towers and stuff, but that huge castle vibe. More or so a cross between a chalet and Hogwart's castle. That's the best I can think of right now.


	5. Chapter 5

Again, I just can't even tell you guys how awesome you are. I appreciate every single reader and review. It's so much fun to write this story, and now that My Brown Eyed Beauty is in the works, it'll be a little more interesting.

On that note, let me tell you guys how this is gonna work. Alright, I'm posting MGEMP today, and then next Friday, I'll post MBEB. (unless I get a wild hair and post it this weekend) Like I said before, most of MBEB will be condensed, for the most part. There will be times that it'll be a key part in the story for information. So I'd say check it out. And like I said before, too, chapter 1 of MBEB will basically be the outtake and the EPOV that I HAD put in this story, but have taken them out of here. There is a little more in the beginning of it, but that's essentially what it is. Chapter 2 will be a little more… well Edward's side that you haven't seen. Lol sorry, my brain hurts today so words are not working with me. :p

Anywho, you know the drill by now. Lola is my beta and awesomest person ever.

BTW Lola has had 2 banners made for my two stories. I'll put the links up on my page. I think they're fuck-awesome.

And SM owns Twi, I sadly don't.

Read on peeps!

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><p>BPOV<p>

Oh, he's mad… but I don't think it's at me.

As I thought about what Jasper had said, it was starting to come together in my head. Trying to remember my Italian, I think what he said was '_just so you know, the dog has a bullet with his name on it. He just shot up to the top of uncle J's shit list.'_

But something Jasper said peaked in my mind.

_The dog has a bullet with his name on it…_

Why would he put it that way? I've never known them to be like… criminal or anything. Esme and Carlisle never gave off that vibe. Maybe it's just a safety precaution? Jasper did say that there was a problem with his business and people weren't supposed to know where they were when they moved here, twenty years ago. That could be the reason… right?

As we make our way up the elevator, to the blocked off area of the hotel for 'family', Edward is tense the whole way there. He doesn't speak much, and won't look straight at me. I see him glance my way several times, but I don't know what to make of it.

Is he mad at me? At Jacob? Oh god, what if he hates me after he finds out? I don't want him to think I wanted that to happen with Jacob. Or that I had any sort of feeling for Jacob. Far from it. He always thought he was hot shit, when we were in school. Girls fell at his feet, and didn't have to even ask a girl to do something for him. They were there, waiting. Girls like Jessica. Bleh. They made me sick.

"Edward, please don't be upset with me…" I tried to get a response out of him.

"Bella, I'm not upset with you. I am raging mad at Black, right now." He said the last part through gritted teeth.

Once we reached the twelfth floor, Edward ushered us into, what would be my suite.

When I first walked in, I was stunned. I see light brown mocha walls, dark, almost black, accents wall, and trim, a large circle mirror on the wall. A kitchen area done in the same colors as the rest of the room, with a dark wood island and burnt orange stools. And really beautiful medium wood floors, creamy white suede sofas and chair, a dark wood coffee table, and a flat screen TV on a very nice looking hutch.

Walking into the bedroom down the hall, there's a dark wood bed, with white, burnt orange and tan bedding. The walls are the same mocha color. To the sides of the bed, there are beautiful, but simple, wood side tables with stone based lamps.

It looks very nice and classy. I'm not sure what they plan on changing, but it better be out-of-this-world-good.

There are a few other rooms in the suite, as well. One is an office that I said I didn't really have a need for. I'd rather have a library type of room. And there was a guest room and another bathroom, aside from the en suite in the master bedroom.

Jasper comes down the hall as I'm leaving my room, after putting my clothes and stuff away.

"Jasper, what did you tell him earlier? And why the hell is he so mad? Tell me what's going on." I ask in a low voice, so that Edward can't really hear from where I left him in the main living area.

He leaned up against the wall across from my room and folded his arms across his chest.

"B… That man in there cares for you, a great deal. He's very protective of you. If anything bad happens to you, I'm not gonna lie, he'll flip a little bit. I've seen him when his family is threatened, and you are family. But to him, you're not a sister, like you are to me. That man… has always, _always_, held a special spot for you. You're extremely important to him, honey.

"But you really need to tell him what happened with Black. We have… history with that asshole, and he needs to know this kind of stuff. And I have no problem with going and, personally, fucking up that guy's face. That's the very least that dickhead deserves.

"Edward, on the other hand… may have the urge to do much worse to him. And I can't say that I would consider stopping him. That son of a bitch deserves what's coming to him.

"There are… things about this family that you don't know about. And I don't think you need to know… not yet, anyways. I'll leave that up to mom and dad. But you need to know that we are all here for you, and will protect you. Even if you can't turn to you parents or you brother or sister, you know you can come to us. We're not going anywhere, this time. I can promise you that, Little B." Jasper said as he crossed the hall and took me in his arms, hugging me to him.

"Jasper, I don't know if I can…"

"Yes you can, honey. I'll be in there with you, if you want. You know Edward would never hurt you." He told me, still holding me to him.

"I know… I'll do it. I'm just scared. I don't… want him to think I'm one of those sluts that always threw themselves at Jacob. I was nothing like them." I said as I pulled back from him.

"Then tell him that. Tell him what you told me. He WILL understand."

I just nodded and he took my hand, leading me towards the living area.

Edward was looking out of the large window, and apparently didn't hear us come in, because he didn't turn around.

Jasper motioned for me to sit down on the large, fluffy sofa. Then he walked over to where Edward was and nudged his shoulder. Edward didn't look up right away, but when he did, Jasper nodded his head in my direction. They both turned and walked over to where I was seated, and sat across from me.

Telling Edward what happened with Jacob, was probably just as hard as living it the first time. I tried not to look at him when I was telling him, but I could see his body language.

He sat with his elbows on his knees, on the edge of the sofa, one hand fisted in the other hand; like he was trying to not throw a punch, or something. He seemed rigid and motionless the whole time.

When I finally looked at his face, when I was done, his eyes were focused on the floor, but they were hard and angry.

He stood quickly and made his way down the hall.

_Oh god, I knew he would run when he found out…_

Jasper stood, ready to go after him, but waited.

I heard a crash coming from, what I could remember was the office in my suite. I heard him scream, along with a few more crashes, and I was frozen in my seat. I didn't know what to do with myself with him like this.

Jasper went to stand against the wall, and seemed like he was waiting to see if he needed to go after Edward.

It was quiet for a few minutes before I heard him coming down the hall again.

He rushed over to me, with watery eyes. When he reached me, he collapsed on bended knees in front of me, buried his face in my stomach, and cried.

"I'm so sorry Bella! I wasn't here for you when you needed me, baby! I'll never forgive myself for what he did to you." I heard him cry, and felt a few tears slip out of my own eyes.

"Edward, shh, it wasn't your fault. It was his. There was nothing you could have done. I just wish I could have fought him off better. He was just too strong. That's why I went and took self defense classes. They helped a lot. I may not have the confidence of some women, but if I have to, I can defend myself. I've been told; I'm too shy, I'm too reserved, I'm too meek, I'll never meet a guy being the way I am if I shy away from people's touch. But I can't help it. It's a defense mechanism for me. I know its stuff I have to work on, but it'll take time, and people who are willing to help me. My family isn't really helpful in that department, and friends in Forks… You know how it was when I was little; it never changed." I told him, and he raised his head when I said this.

"Bella, you're an incredible woman. How can someone not see that? And I _should_ have been here. Maybe if I had, he wouldn't have tried to hurt you in the first place." He said, moving a few pieces of hair that fell out of my ponytail, back behind my ear. "I want you to talk to Rosalie. She's our cousin, Emmett's, wife. She was attacked when she was twenty, and I think she could help you, if you feel like that. She's grown so much since she was attacked that you would have never known she was a victim. I think the self defense classes were a great idea. I still want you to call her and see if she can give you any type of pointers that might help you feel… less reserved and anxious. I know it won't happen over night, but it couldn't hurt, right?"

I thought about what he said, and he's right. I do need to talk to someone. I think that was part of my problem after it happened; that I never talked to anyone, so that they could guide me through it. That's something that I really needed, but was too afraid, at the time, to let anyone know that it happened. I didn't want people to think differently of me, but in the end, it made me act different, and I guess it just felt like the lesser of two evils. I could handle people thinking I'm a frigid bitch; I couldn't handle people thinking I was weak, slutty, or pity me.

I nodded at him. "Yeah, I wanna talk to her. I think that's what I've needed all this time; someone to talk to about it. What exactly… happened to her? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's not really my story to tell, but she was attacked by two guys… and they were not gentle about it, either. It's going to be hard for her to have children, but they're trying like crazy to prove the doctors wrong." Edward said in a solemn voice.

I dropped my head into my hands and let out a chocked sob.

"Hey, hey, what's this? What's wrong?" He asked, clearly startled that I reacted this way.

I looked up and saw Jasper cock his head to the side. He didn't know this part.

"Umm, there's a _huge_… possibilitythatican'thavechildreneither…" I rushed out, hoping I didn't have to repeat what I said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Say that again, but a little slower." Jasper said, coming to sit on the couch, again.

I blew out a breath and just told them. "I said, there's a huge possibility that I can't have children, either. The doctors said that my ovaries just weren't working like they should. Nothing really worked to fix it and I've never really had a reason to try to have a child, so I don't even know… the likelihood of it happening."

"Oh baby girl, I'm so sorry." Jasper said, sadly, as he moved over to sit by me and put his arm around my shoulders to hug me to his side and kissed the top of my head.

I felt Edward holding onto my hand, and bringing it up to his lips to kiss, and then hold it to his face as his head was bowed down.

"It's… why I was in the park earlier today… or I guess yesterday. It may sound masochistic, but I like to just see the kids, even though I probably won't ever have my own. It just makes me appreciate those little lives, when some people just toss their own flesh and blood to the side… and I probably shouldn't have said that, considering I don't have any clue as to where, or who, your kids mother is. I'm sorry." I said, and then just shut my mouth, because I can't believe I just said that. I mean the kids did say they didn't have a mother, but I have no idea where she is, or what happened to her and Edward, or why she's not in the picture.

I saw Edward purse his lips and sigh. I don't think he wanted to get into this subject.

He finally looked up and nodded. "Jazz, can you excuse us? I think I need to tell Bella a few things…"

"If you're sure, bro." Jasper stood and I saw them both nod at each other.

Jasper leaned over and kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear. "I'll see you in the morning. Just listen to what he has to say. Night, baby girl."

"Night, Jazz. Thanks for everything." I told him as he stood back up.

"Anytime, sis." he winked, then left me and Edward alone.

It was quiet for a few moments before Edward broke the silence.

"Bella, the twins' mother… she's not a part of their lives, any of our lives. She's…" He sighed, running his hands through his hair, roughly. "Bella, please understand that when I was nineteen, I thought I was invincible and that I could do whatever I wanted. I didn't think things through, all the time. Some of my choices ended up… with two children.

"I got insanely drunk, and high one night and ended up going home with this girl that had been giving me a lot of attention for a while. I'd see her around, at work, at the bar, on the street. She worked in my dad's building when I was working under him and going to school. She showed up several times, for no reason, when I was in the office. I just shrugged it off at the time. I was used to going to the club that my family ran, and always got free drinks. So I didn't think anything of it when a girl started loading me up with drinks.

"So, as you can imagine, I ended up getting plastered, but she didn't drink much. She would slowly sip her beer, but stayed in total control. I guess she gave me something else too, while she as loading me up with drinks. Anyways, I woke up the next morning in her bed, and I didn't really remember getting there. I didn't like that I had no clue how I got there, or the fact that I couldn't figure out who it was that I went home with, at first. That kind of got it across to me that I needed to get a grip on myself, or I was going to seriously get fucked up and in some serious trouble.

"After I found out it was the same girl that had been working in my dad's building, I started getting a little nervous. I had this feeling that she planned on getting me in bed, the whole time. And I was always religious about protection. And apparently I was too damn drunk and not thinking that I didn't wear a condom that night. I prayed that she was on the pill or getting the shot.

"The next thing I know, its a few months later, and she's telling me she's pregnant. She had just started showing, and she couldn't hide it from anyone, anymore. She told me it was mine, and that she wanted me to step up and take care of her. I was automatically on guard. We ended up going back and forth for a long time; trying to make sure that the baby was mine, in the first place. And she kept on making demands that I wasn't comfortable with. I won't get into all of the details, but she became a bit of a bitch, telling us that we WOULD do this, or she wanted and would get that. We did this for a few months with her.

"We didn't see her for the last couple of months of the pregnancy. I got worried at what the hell was going on.

"Finally, she showed up at our house with two babies in their carriers. She shoved the kids into my hands and said she couldn't handle two kids. She refused to take the role of mother, seriously. I guess she didn't realize that twins run in my family." He smiled at that part. "All along, she just wanted the family name, and what my family could give her. She didn't care about the babies she was bringing into the situation." He looked livid about that part. And I can't say that I blame him. He should be. But then his face softened a little. "So I ended up with two day old twins, freaking out about what to do. But, of course, mom sat me down and basically said not to worry about it. She would help out; watch the twins when I wasn't at home. She said we would make it work. And we did. Everyone helped out, which I was thankful for. And now I've got two beautiful children.

"She didn't even name them, when she had them. So I ended up being the one to name them."

Holy shit. I didn't really expect that. I thought, for sure, he would have been married, or something. And the fact that this woman set out to do this to him, just made me livid. Children are not pawns in some game. They are living, breathing, innocent beings.

If I ever come across this woman, I will not hesitate to deck her ass. She fucking deserves it.

"What was her name? Because if I ever see her, face to face, then we are gonna have words… among other things. She may find herself in an ER after we talk." I said in a heated voice. I need to calm myself down.

He sighed and looked over at me. "Her name was Irina Lucas. I hope to god that you never have to set eyes on her. She's a manipulative, narcissistic bitch. I don't ever want her around my kids, ever again. I don't like to talk to them about her. They know they have a mother that gave birth to them, but that that's where it ends. They don't need to know anything else about her." He paused for a moment, thinking before changing the subject. "Oh, I'm sorry about your office, too. I kinda got carried away. You said you wanted it to be different, didn't you?" He asked, looking apologetic and hopeful.

I couldn't help but smile at him. "It's fine. I wasn't big on having an office, so you can go rip the rest of it apart, if you want. It'll save me some time."

"Hey, no, I'll have everything done, ok? I've got the plans all set to start. I'll go ahead and tell you what it'll look like, and if you don't like it, I'll have it done to whatever you want." He waited for my reaction, so I just nodded. "Ok, well we're planning on keeping the floors like they are. But we found some large gray rugs, which have black, a lighter gray, and a darker gray, almost floral design. The walls in the main area are going to be black, but on the focal wall, will be a large picture of the moon. Hence the new name '_New Moon Hotel'._ We're going to put in white and gray patterned sofas. A black coffee table. White or clear based lamps. That's one of the things we haven't set in stone yet. Anyways, there are also going to be curtains with alternating patterns of stripes and floral, in white and gray, that are light filtering.

"The theme will go through the rest of the suite, but with different phases of the moon in each room. In the master bedroom, we are planning on white bedding with a short, tufted headboard that's white. Also a white dresser.

"So if you don't want any of the rooms to be like that, tell me and we'll figure out a different look."

Wow. I have to say, I love that idea. It's so different and unique.

"I think I can live with that. Although, can I make one request for the master bedroom?" I asked, and he nodded. "Can I have a little shot of color and maybe have a plum purple comforter on the bed?"

He laughed a little at that. "Of course you can. Anything for you. All you have to do is ask, and I'll handle it right away." He looked down at his watch and realized what time it was. "Shit, it's really late. I should let you get to bed."

I panicked. I didn't want him to leave yet. I wanted to keep talking to him. I couldn't possibly sleep right now.

I reached out and grabbed his arm. "Don't leave. Please? I still want to talk… I don't want you leave…"

He looked a little apprehensive, so I knew he was going to say no.

I looked down at my lap and took my hand away from his arm. I heard him sigh as he covered my hand with his own.

"Sweetheart, are you sure? I don't want you to be uncomfortable." He asked, worry etched on his face.

"Edward… with you, with Jasper, I feel comfortable; safe. I don't feel like I usually do around other people. There are only a handful of people that fall under that category. I imagine Esme and Carlisle would be in that group too. They've always felt like another set of parents to me."

He looked contemplative for a moment before he spoke again.

"Bella, what am I to you?" I gave him a look that said I wasn't sure what he was talking about. "I mean, you said mom and dad are like parents to you, Jasper's like your brother… What am I? I want to know where I fit into your life."

That caught me off guard, a little. And honestly, I wasn't sure how to respond. He's always been my best friend, even the years he's been gone. No one has ever filled that space. But, he's right; where does he fit into my life? Well, I knew one thing that I could show him as a starting point. He hadn't seen it yet since I had my hoodie on the whole time. But now is as good of a time as any.

"Let me show you something." I told him, and started shrugging out of my hoodie. When I laid it on the back of the sofa, I turned towards him again, and turned my wrists over, letting him see the Italian writing.

He took my wrists and examined them, and I was afraid that maybe this would be too much for him.

* * *

><p>So, what do you think his reaction will be?<p>

Next chapter will start to get a little more interaction with these two. Maybe a visit to the parents. Not sure when I'm putting that part in, yet.

Ok, so remember, I'll post My Brown Eyed Beauty next Friday. So if you've already author alerted me, you'll see it. If not, either put me on alert, or keep an eye out next Friday for it.

I guess that's it for this week. I'll see ya next week then!

Laters!


	6. Chapter 6

Heya guys! I know, I'm posting earlier than scheduled, but there is a reason.

Here is my soapbox speech. If you don't want to hear it, skip it.

I've heard so much about stories being pulled, authors being bullied, and generally shitty behavior by some people. People are targeting Twi authors, and I don't get that. And this group, or whatever it is, that is reporting stories, can kiss my but. They're pulling stories that have nothing wrong with them. One story was pulled because the word 'penis' was in the title. Ok would you rather it say 'penis', or dick or cock? Seriously, give me a break.

I am against the bullying of authors and all this shit that they're trying to pull. This is suppose to be a place where we can let our thoughts and feelings out in our stories. And doesn't it say at the top of the website 'unleash your imagination'? I'm calling bullshit right fucking now! It should say 'watch out for bullies'.

I'm sorry but it's completely insane that people are doing this to authors who have put so fucking much into their stories, and come to a website that they trust and the majority of people come to read, only to have these people come up and say, 'oh I'm sorry, your story is offensive, we're going to pull it'. Fuck that.

Here's my thing; if you're old enough to be on this site, and you're old enough to read about Twilight and stuff, then you're old enough to be responsible for looking at what the rating is on a story, and if you're not 16, 18 or whatever, then YOU DON'T NEED TO READ IT! It's as simple as that!

Most of these authors are following the rules, but the people that aren't are the ones reporting it. People put disclaimers up, they give you warnings at the beginning of chapters if there's a lot of violence, rape, etc. And they put it in their summary too. Soooooo why are we getting shit for it?

I don't know all the details of the protest that's going on for this, but what I do know is that people are protesting by not visiting or posting on this site on june 8th, I think. Something like that. Anyways, I'm going to do the same. But I will do it for the weekend. Which means I wont post on my normal day of Friday, which is why I'm posting now.

Some of my favorite stories have been pulled, and some of the authors of others have taken their stories over to TWCS. Which is what I'm doing. I'm in the process of posting this story, 'My Brown Eyed Beauty', and at least "The Greatest Man I Never Knew' over there. So that'll be my 3 mob stories that I'm posting there.

So if this story gets pulled, go find me over there, same penname, same story titles.

They may find our stories offensive, but I find their actions to be even more offensive. It's called fan fiction. It's not real, it's a story. People need to be responsible and consider what the fuck they're doing when they read stories. Shouldn't we be allowed to 'unleash our imaginations' how we see fit?

Ok, soapbox rant over.

I'm sorry, but it really pisses me off when authors are being bullied like that.

Anyways, ummmm, oh! The usual stuff. Lola is my beta, and awesome friend. (yes I added at the end again. I can't help it. I forgoted. Lol)

And SM owns Twi. I don't

I will understand if some of you guys are protesting the site this weekend, so that's part of the reason I'm posting early.

Oh, and some of you have been worried about Bella being, basically, a wuss. But… things will change for her. You have to keep reading to see what happens with her. She's really emotional right now. Her best friend just came back into the picture, along with his family, who has always felt like Bella's family. Bella doesn't really have that many friends in Forks, so she has no one to really talk to or confide in. Her family treats her like shit. She's always felt like she's not worthy of people caring for her, or treating her well.

Remember, she's going to talk to Rosalie, soon. So maybe that will help her get a better grasp on her life.

Trust me, I have a method to my madness. Hehe;p

Read on!

* * *

><p>BPOV<p>

'_I miei occhi Verdi_' and '_Il mio protettore_' is what he's staring at.

_I miei occhi Verdi_, being 'My green eyes', and _Il mio protettore, _being 'My protector', are tattooed on either of my wrists.

No one has ever really understood what their meaning, or why I got them. But that's the whole idea. Only Edward and I know what they mean.

As Edward looked at my tattoos, I got a little nervous. But when I saw him raise his head, I saw wonder and a little confusion. At least I didn't see horror and worry.

"You did this, for me?" He asked, with a certain amount of awe.

I just nodded my head, slightly. "Umm, I wanted to always remember you. I still have my locket that you gave me, but this was another way to have you represented, even if no one else knew what it was about. It was like our secret."

He brought my wrists up and kissed each of them. "Thank you." He whispered. "I guess we both always had a little obsession with each others' eyes. I've always loved your eyes. They're so expressive, deep, and bright. That's one of the things I always remembered when we left; your eyes. I missed just being able to look at them and be able to see what was going on with you. They always told me a story. Whether you were happy, sad, mad, amused, embarrassed. The best was when you laughed, your eyes always danced with happiness."

I smiled, hugely at him. What he described about my eyes was how I always thought about his eyes. It's why I made sure that those were the first tattoos that I got. He doesn't know that I've got more, but I'll tell him about them later.

"Well, to answer your question, you've never felt like a brother to me. You've been so much more important. You were my best friend in the world. No one was ever able to reach me the way you could. Just being around you made me feel happy. But… it's been years. We don't know everything about each other anymore, but I still feel the same way I did back then. I still care about you so much." I said, warily. I don't want to have hope when there is absolutely none.

He sighed and stood up, reaching out a hand to me. "Come on. Let's get you ready for bed and we'll talk more."

I just nodded and took his hand, standing up and walking down the hall towards my room.

I quickly changed into a favorite black batman t-shirt, and a pair of my comfy gray shorts. I usually sleep in just a tank and underwear, but I wasn't sure where I was staying, so I went with a safe option.

When I came out of the bathroom, I saw Edward sitting with his back against the headboard of the bed. He was only in his boxers and his under t-shirt.

_I think I might have drooled a little bit. _

Fuck, he was just so sexy. He wasn't like the little boy I played with everyday when we were kids, anymore. He's become a man.

_A fan-fucking-tastic specimen of a man. _

Shut it, inner voice. You're not helping me here.

Great. Now I sound like a lunatic.

Moving on.

As I made my way over to the bed, he followed me with his eyes. I didn't know if I looked ridiculous in my shirt and shorts or what but I don't like being scrutinized.

"What?" I finally asked, not being able to take the silent stare that I was getting from him.

His eyes snapped up to mine, and I realized he was checking out my body.

_No one's ever really checked me out, like that. _

"Sorry. Just… I just have to remember that you're not a little girl anymore." I nodded and crawled into the bed beside him. "You've grown up so much. But I still see that little girl. That sweet, innocent six year old that I found on the playground." He looked down at his hands for a moment and sighed. "I'm really sorry we didn't come back, sooner. You don't know how much I've missed you." He whispered, and I almost didn't hear him. "I would always ask mom if we could go visit you. But she would always give us the runaround. We didn't know it at the time. And then when we grew up… Bella they couldn't risk someone tracing a call or us taking a trip, to you. We finally understood it when we were old enough. It didn't mean I wanted to see you any less. But we stuck by what dad wanted us to do. We respected his wishes. I have a feeling dad will tell you what's been going on tomorrow, though. There's no point in keeping it from you when, well at least I hope, you'll be around a lot. Since we're already here, I'm not going to just walk around like you don't exist and you're right up the road, instead of a plane ride away. I can't, I think the same would go for Esme. She did what dad asked, but I know she was itching to come here, too. I saw how excited she was when dad said the move was definite. But you have to understand the dynamics of what's been going on, to understand, fully, why we didn't come back. I didn't like it, but I respected dad's choices. I'd still like to enjoy just being with you before we get into the family drama." He laughed at the last part.

I took in what he was saying, and it was a lot. I guess I could understand that they couldn't risk something tracing back to me, but the why was what bothered me. I just hoped that if Carlisle told me what the big secret was, that I could handle whatever it was. There are so many things that it could be, and I'll probably spend most of the night trying to figure out what it is, instead of sleeping. Which was a bad idea, but knowing me, it'll happen. I can't turn my brain off sometimes.

What if I couldn't handle it, though? What if it was something too big for me? I'm a small town girl. That's always been what I've known. Sure I've been to Seattle on occasion, but I've never really dealt with things from the big city life. I've got enough on my plate, as it is.

But for the Cullens? For Edward? I think I could handle almost anything.

"You're quiet." He said in a soft voice.

I didn't realize that I had been so silent for so long.

"Sorry, just thinking. Trying to figure out what the big secret is… And what it would mean for me. But I guess until I know everything, I won't know for sure. It freaks me out a little bit, not knowing if I'm getting involved with… killers or something." I laughed at the last part, but Edward didn't seem to think it was funny… which really worried me. That and the look on his face. Like he had seen a ghost.

_Oh fuck!_

"Edward…" My voice wavered and cracked as I looked at him with fear.

He wouldn't meet my eyes, and then it seemed some of the secret started clicking into place.

'_The dog has a bullet with his name on it'._

_The business that they had to get away from in Chicago. _

_The reason they couldn't have anything linked to me. _

_The secret… _

_Oh my god… _

_I might be sick._

"Shit…" I squeaked, my breathing becoming erratic.

I rushed off of the bed, trying to get out the bedroom door, only to be stopped by two large arms wrapping around me and picking me up.

"NO! Put me the fuck down, god damn it!" I started screaming and flailing, trying to get out of his grasp.

"BELLA! Baby, stop! Shhh, shh, I'm not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you. You know that! Just fucking listen to me!" He kept trying to calm me down, but I didn't want to listen.

I kept fighting him, trying to get him to let me go, and I just felt helpless. Even though I knew they were probably into illegal shit, I still couldn't help but feel like they would never do anything to hurt me. It was a battle inside of me, and I had no clue which side was winning.

My fighting turned to crying. Sobbing, really. And I just went limp in his arms, while he was still holding me off the ground. I was just done fighting.

_Yeah, those self defense classes did awesome for you…_

Fuck off, inner voice!

I could hear Edward shushing me and trying to sooth me through my sobs. I felt him move us back over to the bed, sitting us down on it. He sat me in his lap and wrapped his arms tighter around me, then started rocking me, side to side.

After a while, my sobs had calmed to sniffles.

I finally find the guts to look up at him and I see anguish and worry in his eyes.

"B, I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to find out like that. I wanted to be able to have mom and dad around so they could explain it all to you. But I guess it's up to me to do it." He looked at me, as if asking if I wanted to know the whole thing. I think I did, so I nodded. "I want you to, please, listen to me before you freak out anymore." He looked at me again to make sure I understood, so I nodded again. At least I'd try. "Ok… well…we're not, exactly, what mainstream America makes us out to be. And the… mafia, ours at least, is not just killing people. Yes we do kill, but there is reason, and logistics behind it. We only kill people that have wronged, hurt, or threatened our family. Or they've failed to pay back what was owed to us and had no way of working it off. We wouldn't kill someone just for the hell of it. There has to be a really good reason behind it. We don't hurt women or children. The only time a woman has ever been hurt by us is when they were the one that threatened or hurt our family. I've only ever been involved with one woman ever being killed, but that was because she was working for a rival family. She came in and tried to ruin one of our businesses, so that her bosses could take over.

"Anyways… we don't do human trafficking. That's just fucked up. I don't think I could ever deal in anything like that. We don't even deal in drugs anymore. When I was in my teens was when dad, Grandpa Cullen and Uncle Ed were shipping and selling drugs. But when things happened with Irina that was quickly done away with.

"We also pick up where the cops leave off in cases that they can't solve, or get justice for. Mostly it's just things like if someone got off on murder, or abusing their kids, we end up finding 'ways' to either get them in jail, or we take care of the situation, if it's severe enough. Kinda like mercenaries. We sure as hell don't work for them, but we do have a guy that lets us know if someone's got some shady shit going on, and the cops can't do anything, legally, about it. It's just the rare occasion that we step in.

"The only other things we do are selling guns and shipping stuff; importing and exporting.

"So, we're not just blood-thirsty killers. We do things that aren't legal, yes, but we're part of a long family business. Five generations of Cullens have been part of the mafia. It wasn't always like it is now. It used to be a constant blood bath between families. But lately, we've been trying to tone it back. Times and technology have made it to where it's much easier to link one of us to those kind of crimes, so a shift had to be made in business."

Uhhh…

Ok. Wow. I guess there is more than one way that a mafia can be run. But it's still… the fucking mafia. Killers, criminals… god, what the fuck have I gotten myself into?

These people were always the most loving and caring people when I was little. Not hardened criminals. Granted Jasper and Edward weren't old enough to know anything about it when they lived here, but Esme and Carlisle? There is no way Carlisle is a killer. And Esme, she seemed to be the farthest thing from a mob wife that I've ever heard of.

But, thinking about what Edward said, they're not what 'mainstream America' thinks they are. And it's really not what you normally hear about the mafia. The guns and killing, yes, but the pick up of what the cops can't legally handle? Not in a million years. You would usually hear that the mafia has cops in their pocket. Not the mafia doing things for the cops. But I guess they aren't doing thing directly for them.

Shit, this is just so much to think about.

"Bella?" Edward's soft voice snapped me back to reality.

I looked back over at him and see worry in his green eyes.

Green eyes that always brought me the most comfort when we were little, and every night when I looked at our picture in my locket.

Eyes that I trusted. Always.

But I needed to proceed with caution.

"Edward, can we, maybe talk about this in the morning? There's just so much that you and Jasper, both, told me tonight. And I've got to process it, somehow." I told him, unsure of what else to say. Because, really? What else can you say to a person that just told you you're sitting next to someone who is in the mob?

He looked a little hurt, and moved to get up from behind me. I sort of panicked, because I wanted him to leave, but I also didn't want him to leave.

I had to make a decision, quickly, or he was going to walk out of here, and I wouldn't know where things stood.

Without thinking I grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving.

"No, I still want you to stay. Despite the fact that I now know about that part of your life, I'm still not ready to be away from you." I said, looking him straight in the eye.

I don't know where that confidence came from, because I sure as hell haven't ever been that… assertive, I guess. I've always just let things slide, or let people just go do whatever. But… Edward… I can't just let him walk out. He's told me all this and it's all a monumental reason that I should be terrified, but I'm not. He's still my Edward, my green eyes, and my protector. He wouldn't have freaked out earlier when I told him about Jacob, if he wasn't still protective of me.

He turned back to look at me, like I had lost my mind. Which I probably have. Who the hell tells a mobster that they want them to stay with them, unless they want to get in their pants?

_Hmmm, maybe later…_

Stop it, you inner whore!

_You know you want to give that man more babies. _

Shut up!

Oh my god, I'm seriously arguing with myself.

I need help.

"B, I don't-" he starts, but I cut him off.

"No, Edward. I want you to stay. My need for you to be here, is winning out over any sort of fear I may have. I can't rationally understand why, but, I guess it's the fact that I've needed that… comfort that I've only ever felt being around you, or your family. But mostly you. For all these years, this has been the one thing that has let me know that it was all real. That you were really here." I told him, reaching into the neck of my shirt and pulling the locket out and showing him that I still have it.

He plucked it from my hands, and opened it up to look inside. He stared at the picture of the two of us for the longest time.

The picture in it was taken at the Cullen's house. Edward, Jasper and I had always played together, almost every day. And this day, when I came over, Esme was taking pictures of here garden. She was such a wonderful photographer. So while she was taking pictures, Edward, Jasper and I went out with her. We would play around the garden and Esme would snap pictures of us. Some, we were picking flowers, some we were smelling them. Jasper had just gone to the tree house that was in their back yard, leaving me and Edward to the flowers.

Edward was off on the other side of the garden, and Esme was taking more pictures. I sat down in the middle of a half circle of rose bushes that were yellow. I had leaned my head back, closing my eyes, just soaking up the rare sunny day, when I felt something tap my leg.

I looked up and saw Edward on his knees, holding out a red rose to me, with a huge smile on his face.

I tackled him to the ground and we started giggling. We ended up lying in the grass, and I was holding the rose, smiling like a crazy person.

Esme had taken the picture when I had leaned my head over onto Edward's shoulder and brought the rose up to my nose to smell. She had obviously gotten a perfect angle because you could see what I was doing, and you could see Edward's smiling face as he tilted his head to rest on top of mine. His eyes were bright and happy, just like mine.

It was the perfect picture of us.

"I can't believe you still have this. I thought you would have forgotten it by now." He whispers, still looking at the locket.

"I've always worn it. It was my way of holding on to you."

When he finally looked up at me, I saw so much happiness there.

"I want to show you something, too." He said, as he reached back behind his head and pulled his shirt up and over.

I sat there, gaping at the sight before me.

Yes, the man was a fucking god, but that's not what had me staring like an idiot.

Well… not the _only_ thing…

No, what had me staring was the ink that was all over his body.

I had seen a little bit of ink peaking out from one arm of his shirt earlier, but hadn't gotten a closer look.

Now that I see it all, it's amazing.

The right arm that I could see ink from earlier has the Cullen crest on it, surrounded by tons of scrolling vines.

And when I see where the vines lead, there's more.

The vines are actually coming up from a tree that is down the right side of his body.

And I think I get it.

Family tree, family crest.

Makes sense to me.

Across his stomach, are Italian words.

'_La forza di una famiglia, _

_come la forza di un esercito, _

_si trova la sua lealtà gli uni agli altri'_

'The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in it's loyalty to each other.' If my Italian is correct.

That… is very profound, given what he told me about his family. And so right. That's the only way that that kind of 'business' can be run.

Loyalty.

Loyalty builds strength.

The mirror behind him catches my eye, quickly when he moves a little bit so I can see things.

When I look fully at the mirror, I see a set of wings across his back. And written into the wings are the names 'Mason Anthony' and 'Isabella Esme'.

My breath catches a little.

As I focus back on the front of him, I look at the tattoo that is sitting just off center of his chest.

I see the letters 'BEB' in calligraphy writing, with its own vines around the letters.

But then it hits me that those are the same letters that Edward used to use as my nickname.

* * *

><p>Ok, so who likes the tattoos? I would lick every single one of Edward's tats. Eeeeeeek!<p>

Anywho. Like I said before, I'm taking this story, MBEB, and TGMINK over to TWCS. I can actually put my pictures up with my stories! Yeeehaw! (yes I just did that. Leave me alone, I'm a southern girl:p)

If I'm still here in two weeks, I'll see you then. If you're reading MBEB, then I'll see you next week. (if it's still up too.)

OH! Haha I guess I forgot to tell you all that little nugget of info. Yeah, the first chapter of MBEB is up. Go check it out if you want that extra info. I know it'll be a tiny bit repetitive when they're together, but it's still his side of things. Just role with me on it. It gets good later on. I have plans… *grins evilly and rubs hands together* hehehehehe.

Alrighty, see you guys laters!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys! *peeks around corner* ok so there has been some confusion as to my posting schedule. Soooo, here's the deal. This week, I'm posting on this story. Next Friday, I'll post on MBEB. The next Friday, I'll post here. I'm alternating weeks. And I'm posting on FFN and TWCS. So I'm hoping this clears up any confusion with you guys.

Ok, side note. Alright, I'm an author that likes to know my readers, and what they like, or if they write, too. So when I get an alert from you guys, I go and check to see if you have any stories that I would like to read, or have read. Or if you've got any interesting stories on your favorite lists. That's how I find half the stories I read, and I find awesome ones that way. But since I've started posting this story, I've noticed almost every single person is reading 'Shamrocks and Shenanigans'. Let me just say that I fucking love that story and the fact that some of you are reading and favoriting this story along with that one, makes me feel kind of proud. Even though I doubt how well I'm writing this, you guys keep me going. Trust me, I'm going to try not to make this story too much like SaS. Yes, they're both mob stories, but I don't want to infringe on that good of a story. Or any story, for that matter, but you get what I mean. Just had to get that out there. Lol

Anywho, you guys all know the drill. Lola is the beta that is always there for me. *hugs*

And SM owns Twi, sadly.

Read on!

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><p>BPOV<p>

"You didn't…" I start, but I can't finish the sentence because of the lump in my throat.

"I did. I wanted you with me, always. At first, it was just your nickname that I had tattooed. I've got things on my body that represent who I am; important parts of my life. My family, my kids, my best friend. You were always in my thoughts, growing up. I missed you all the time. But when things happened with Irina… I always wondered what it would have been like if it had been you that had been the twins' mother. I would have been so amazingly happy if it had been you. But, since it didn't work out that way, I named her after you. There are only three other people that know where her name comes from, and each one of them understood why I made that choice." he told me in a sheepish voice.

And I'm just dumbstruck.

_He named his daughter after me… _

"I-I have no words…" I stutter out. "I guess I should start with, thank you. I'm honored that you named someone so precious to you, after me."

"Like I said, I wanted a little piece of you with me. Even if we didn't come back… You need to understand that this lifestyle of ours is the major reason we didn't come back, until now. We've had a lot of people as enemies, in Chicago and we couldn't risk someone knowing about you and coming after you. You had nothing to do with that side of our lives, so dad wanted to protect you.

"No one knew we came to Washington for that year. We were, basically, in hiding. Dad told us when we were old enough, some shit had happened with another family and the cops were after our family, and they were heavily pursuing dad. So, dad thought it would be better to get out of town for a while, while things cooled down. He left Uncle Ed and Grandpa in charge.

"… I think he made the best decision ever, coming here." He was quiet for a few moments. "Dad didn't want to risk someone following us here if we ever came to visit. And when I was old enough to understand, I kind of agreed to it, even though it was killing me to stay away. I wanted to keep you safe."

Hmm. I guess I could understand all of that now. Earlier, when they told me some of these things about why they couldn't come back, wouldn't click. Now they do.

I nodded my head, trying to let him know I understood, but couldn't quite find my voice.

"Are you ok, B?" I heard his worried voice next to me.

I nodded again. "Yeah. Just… I guess it's easier to process everything, now that you've told me. But, right now, I'm just wiped out, and my brain hurts. Can we talk more in the morning?" I ask, really hoping that I'll be able to get some more clarity during the night.

He gave me a small smile. "Of course. Come on." he motioned for me to get under the covers. "Are you sure you want me to stay? I want you to be one hundred percent positive. I don't want you to be in any way uncomfortable."

I just pulled the other side of the covers down and pulled him down onto the bed so he would lie down. "Yes, I'm sure."

We both snuggled down into the bed, facing each other, after we turned the lights off.

As I look at his face with the moon shining in through the window, I can't help but reach out and skim a finger across his smooth cheek.

He closed his eyes and just sighed. Like he was happy that I touched him like that.

He then grabbed my hand in his, and pulled it to his chest, as his breathing evened out.

I wasn't too far behind him, even though my mind was in overdrive. I was just completely exhausted.

My dreams were plagued with guns, fedoras and men in suits.

_Not sure why the fedora's. This isn't the 1920's. _

Guess I was just being a little irrational in my dreams, but come on. Everyone that watches a mob movie culminates that into what they 'know' about the mafia.

When I woke up, the sun was streaming through the window, and it seemed to be mid morning.

During the night, I seemed to have snuggled into Edward's chest, seeking some sort of comfort.

And I'm pretty sure I found it, because his arms were wrapped tightly around me, and I was tucked under his chin.

_It felt utterly perfect._

This is what I've missed all these years. My best friend that knew just how to sooth me.

It's what I never got from my family.

He was still breathing evenly, so I guessed he was still sleeping.

I extracted one of my arms and rubbed my hand along his protective arm.

"I don't understand how you're here with me." I whispered, hoping that he was still asleep.

His eyes flew open, staring down at me in shock.

_Guess I was wrong._

"What do you mean?" he asked, quietly. His voice thick from just waking.

"I mean," I let out a sigh. "I mean, how you're here with me, right now. Lying in bed with me. I've always been told that I'm not good enough, that I'm nothing special. That I'll never find someone and hold on to them.

"My parents treat me like a fucking maid, nurse, and chauffeur, whatever. They don't really treat me like I'm part of the family. Or like I'm of any importance. The only time I'm 'important' is when someone has to take care of my mom. And when one or both of your parents tell you… that you weren't planned or wanted, then you feel smaller than dirt." I told him, letting some of the tears fall. "I've never felt like I belong in my family. No one cares whether I'm there or not. And, I guess I'm ok with your lifestyle, more than I thought, because I would rather be around mobsters, than my own family. But it doesn't matter that you are in the mafia, because you're still the same people that I met when I was six.

"You've never made me feel like shit. Whenever I talk, you actually listen. You make me feel like what I have to say matters. Like it's important. I don't get that with my family. I mean, how can someone I haven't seen in twenty years, make me feel more important than people I've been around my whole life? How can a family make you feel like you're nothing more than a doormat?" and I let the sobs take over.

Edward pulled me tighter into him and started rocking me, and whispering soothing words to me.

But it was true. All my life, that's what I've been told. And if you're told something enough times, then you start believing it.

Edward was quiet for a while after I had calmed down, somewhat.

After a few minutes, he finally spoke.

"Bella, I want you to think about something. But first, I'm going to tell you, that your family is full of shit." I looked up at him, a little shocked. I didn't expect him to say that. "What? They are. You, my darling, are an incredible, smart, sexy, sweet, beautiful woman. You _are_ important. What you have to say _is_ important. You deserve to have a happy life, just like anyone else on this planet. You deserve to be told, every day, that you're loved, that you're wanted, and that you're the most beautiful woman.

"I, for one, want you to not have to deal with that kind of shit from your family. And what I want you to think about is moving here, to Seattle. This suite is yours. No one else will be in here. There's no rent. And I'm in the process of getting the bar/club underway. So, since Jasper told me you're working at a bar in Forks right now, I know you have experience behind the bar. And being here in Seattle, you can easily work on things that _you_ want. If you want to go to school for something, then you can. If you want to pursue a dream, you can. You need to do what _you_ want to do. And I know for sure that Jasper and I both want you here. And without question, mom and dad will want you here, too. If your family doesn't treat you like the treasure that you are, then you shouldn't have to put up with that fucking crap.

"So my question is; what is it that _you_ want, Bella?" He asked this while looking me in the eye.

I couldn't look away, at first. Because, what he was saying, was everything I've needed to hear. And a way out of having my mother breathing down my neck and the shitty people that made my life suck in Forks.

But, could I really just pick up and move? I mean I would have to do that at some point. I knew I didn't want to stay in Forks forever. That'd just suck monkey balls. But leaving my mom in the incapable hands of my dad? He would really have to have a crash course in how to care for her. He hasn't done shit for her care since she was diagnosed with MS, and that's been sixteen years now.

I'd have to think long and hard about this. I really, _really_ want to do this. But I have to make sure all of my bases are covered.

"Can I think it through? I mean I've still got a lease at my apartment, and I need to make sure someone can handle my mother. I need to be completely sure about this decision." I asked him, hoping he would understand my reasoning.

"Of course. There's no rush. But your suite will be done by next weekend, if you want to come back. At least I hope you will…"

I just smiled up at him, but then my stomach decided to make itself known, by growling.

He chuckled over my head. "I guess we need to get you fed. Come on, sweet girl." He pulled me up with him and I went to the bathroom, while he went to order us some room service.

As I pass by the clock on the nightstand, I notice that it's only nine-thirty in the morning. Five hours is better than nothing.

I jump in the shower and quickly get washed up for the day. While I'm in there, I think about what's happened.

I actually do feel a little better after sleeping. And letting go of the feelings I've felt all my life.

Maybe he's right; I do need to talk to someone about all of this. Get things off my chest and find ways to work through my fears.

Having a support system is one thing I couldn't really find in Forks. Definitely not from my parents, not from my siblings, and not from any of the people in that town. I've had 'friends' but they're more or less like acquaintances that I'm not all that close with.

No one knew my deep dark secrets. No one knew what my family life was like.

When I'm done in the shower, I jump out and dry off and towel dry my hair. I'm just going to let it air dry with some smoothing serum in it. It always helps tame my hair a little bit.

I think about what I can wear out of the things I brought with me. I wasn't thinking when I shoved stuff in my bag, but I did bring a sun dress with me. Thank god.

The dress I packed is short sleeved, and has a broken floral pattern in grays, black and a hint of blue. It has a scooped, square neckline and back. Its sooo freaking comfortable. I love this dress.

I will cry if I ever ruin it.

_Shoulda bought another one…_

Fuck off. I don't need to buy doubles of my clothes.

Unless it's something I can't live without.

_But…_

Shut up!

_Shutting up…_

Ahh, that's better.

Moving on.

Once I'm dressed, I walk out to the living area looking for Edward.

I find him in the kitchen, getting the breakfast setup that had obviously just been brought up.

He looks up when he realizes I'm in the room.

"Hey! Ok, so from what I remember, you like pancakes with blueberry syrup. And scrambled eggs, annnd strawberries with fruit dip?" He asked as if he wasn't sure.

And I could understand that because people change their likes and dislikes all the time, but he hit the nail on the head.

"Yes! I can't believe you remembered my favorites." I smiled at him as I walked over the little bar in the kitchen where he had the food set.

"Well, it took me a little while to remember it all, but I was hoping I got them all right." He said coming to sit by me on the bar stools.

"Thank you for this. And for the suite. I wish you would let me pay something for all of this. I don't like freeloading. Can't I pay rent, or utilities, or something?" I asked, hoping I could do something so I wasn't a burden to anyone.

"No way. You're family. For one thing, this hotel, and many others that I've got, makes enough money that we can afford to have a family section in one of them. Plus, with all the other 'business' and businesses, there's really no need for it." He thought for a moment, and then something hit him. "Wait, are you saying you'll move here?" He asked excitedly.

"No! Not yet, anyways. This is all part of me figuring out if I can get my ducks in a row and make sure it's the best decision for everyone." I told him, firmly.

"Bells, you need to do what's best for _you_. You can't always be expected to wait on them, hand and foot. There is a fine line between working _with_ you family, and working _for_ your family. And from what I've understood, you've been working _for_ you family. You need to be like every other twenty six year old out there. Doing things to get your life on its own path. Don't let them pull you down. You have to be strong." He said, with conviction.

And he's absolutely right. I do need to do things for myself.

He seemed thoughtful for a few moments, before a smile appeared on his face.

"I think I might have an idea, if you're really worried about being 'such a burden'." He used air quotes, and I almost smacked him.

I shook my head slightly. "Smart ass. Ok, what's this idea?"

"If you moved here, and you considered working at the bar in the club, would you feel more helpful, if I asked you to watch Mason and Izzy when I get called away for work, or family business? I completely trust you with them, and if you're here, and available to do it, I would feel so much better. And I know they would absolutely love you. Alice said they were asking about you when I called her this morning." He smiled at the last part.

And now I had one more thing to think about.

Fuck.

It _does _make me feel more helpful, if I were to do it. And those kids are so sweet; I could just eat them up.

"Let me add it to my thought process and I'll let you know. But, yes, it would make me feel better about living rent free."

"Good. Look, I'm gonna run upstairs and change, and I'll come back down and get you… I kinda called mom while you were in the shower, and she d_emanded_ that I bring you over there." He made a pained face at that comment, which made me laugh.

"Still getting in trouble with Mama Es, are you?" I smirked at him.

"You could say that." I saw a little blush creep up his cheek. "You know how mom is. If we get out of line, it's usually her that brings down the hammer…I did tell her about Black, and most of the stuff about your family. I think her exact words were to 'bring you home so she can take care of you, like you've needed'. I hope I didn't over step any bounds." He smiled, sadly.

"No, that's fine. She needed to know, somehow, and I really don't think I could handle telling it again. So I'm glad you did it." I told him, a little relieved that I don't have to go through that again.

He smiled again. "Ok. I'll be right back. Be ready in ten minutes?"

"That's fine. I'm pretty much ready now. Just let me freshen up a little." I walked down the short hallway towards my room while I heard him go out the door.

Grabbing my cell to put in my bag, I notice I have a couple of missed calls.

All from Renee.

She would have left a message if it was important. This just means she wanted to give me shit about leaving for Seattle for the weekend without consulting her first.

Whatever. I'm a grown ass woman. I don't have to run everything past her. And she has no say whether I can or can't go anywhere.

A few minutes later, I hear a knock on my door.

My heart rate picks up a little. I know it's him, but just remembering what he said about the mafia people that he deals with, you never know.

But then I also remember that he said you have to have a certain key to get up to this level of the hotel, so I'm put at ease, a little bit.

When I open the door, he's standing there in a pair of worn, dark jeans, and a dark green, printed t-shirt that fits him so well. And I see the ink on his arm peeking out from under his shirt, making me want to run my fingers over said ink.

I may have drooled a tiny bit.

I try to shake my thoughts free so that I don't jump on him like a fan girl, or something.

"Ready?" He asks, holding his arm out for me to take.

_Awww, such a gentleman!_

I just smile at him and take his offered arm, and we make our way down to the parking garage.

When we get to the garage, I stop dead in my tracks when we turn a corner.

Sitting there, are some fine ass cars.

One is a brand new black Camaro, with two white stripes down the hood. One is a white Maserati Grand Turismo S. One is a black Volvo SUV, and…Oh my fuck…

"Is that…what I think it is?" I ask, almost silently because I'm afraid it's just going to disappear in front of me.

"The Jaguar?" Edward asks me, sounding a little shocked that I know about cars.

"Is it the special edition XKR?" I ask, excitedly, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

He laughs at my enthusiasm. "Yes it is."

I let out a girly squeal and run over to the blue car.

It's so gorgeous. If it wasn't here, I would be all over the Maserati, but Gah, this is my dream car.

"I take it you like the car, B?" I hear Jasper ask, as he walks over to where we are beside the car.

"Are you fucking kidding me? This is the car of my dreams. It's so stunning, and sleek, and fast." I can't help but gush at this piece of machinery.

"Well I'd say it is definitely a step up from the rust bucket you drive, little B." Jasper chuckles, throwing an arm around my shoulders.

"Leave the truck alone, Jazz. I've always driven that thing. It may be a little older, but it still drives." I turn back to the car in front of me. "This is what I've always wanted, though."

There are suddenly a pair of keys dangling in front of my face.

I look to see that Edward is the one holding them, with a smile on his face.

"Since Jasper brought you here, and he told me about your truck, I don't trust that thing to get you here and back to Forks. So, I want you to drive this." I start too protest, but he stops me. "Listen, I barley drive it around. And if you didn't notice, I've got three others to choose from. I mostly drive the Volvo with the kids, and if it's just me, I'll most likely drive the Maserati." Then he looks thoughtful. "I want you to be safe, going back and forth. I don't want you stranded on the side of the road. So, please let me do this. It would make me feel a hundred percent better knowing you'll be safe, driving. Please, B?" I couldn't say no to him when he gave me the eyes. The ones that could make you do anything.

"Fine. Thank you. EEEP! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love this car. You're the best." I jumped up and down and then kissed his cheek.

He wrapped his arms around me and said, "Anything for my Beauty."

_Swoon!_

We finally climbed into the Volvo, and headed out of the parking garage.

Driving through Seattle, I feel comfortable. I'm not nervous at all. I want to be here, with these people.

It has nothing to do, right now, with them being a part of the mafia. I want to be around them, because they make me happy. They put me at ease, and don't make me feel like I shouldn't be here. They want me here. That's what Edward said, earlier. He wouldn't have offered me a suite in his hotel if they didn't want me to be around.

Edward tells me that his parents live on Mercer Island, and that makes me giddy. They're really not that far away from the city and the hotel.

And it seems relatively easy to get there, too.

Going through their neighborhood, I notice all the beautiful homes.

Edward pulls into a driveway that is longer than most all of the other ones around it, and a lot more land.

Once we're pulling up to the house, itself, I'm in awe of it. It's rustic yet modern. Huge, expansive layout, large windows, manicured lawn, beautiful flowers and shrubs.

It looks very stately.

Edward gets out and comes around to open my door for me, and helps me out. I can't help but smile at how sweet he is.

Jasper is right behind us as we turn and look at the house.

"This place is fucking huge." I whisper, mostly to myself, but I guess Edward and Jasper heard me because they both snicker at it.

I hear the front door of the house fly open, and another voice that I've been desperate to hear for years.

"Bella! Oh baby, you're finally home!"

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><p>Collectively now; "Awwwwww" Lol that was one of my aww moments of the story. The other one is at the end of the next chapter. Yes, its already written and ready to go, but I'm sticking to my schedule. I know you guys want it sooner, but I can't always write that fast and I don't want to fall behind with it, and miss a posting day. Now if I get far enough ahead, then yes I might post sooner than usual. But we're sticking to what we've got now.<p>

Ok, I have a question. Do you guys think I should give Bella's inner voice a name? I've been thinking about it, and for some reason, I'm writing a lot of her inner thoughts. So I thought it might be easier to 'identify' it. Could be a really shitty idea, that's why I'm asking you guys.

Oh! EEEEEEEEP! Who else saw the trailer for BD part 2? Woooohhhoooooo! I can't wait for November!

Alrighty, I think that's it for now. I'll see you guys next week at MBEB.

Laters!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! Ok, I'm gonna give you guys some stats from this story; 206 reviews, 300 favorites, and 361 alerts. Oh and it's in 3 communities. You guys totally freaking make my day with these kinds of responses to this. I appreciate all the reviews and everyone that's reading this and MBEB. Just a little insight, for those of you that have read 'the depths of darkness', there are more reviews for this story with 7 chapters, than there is for DOD with 29 chapters. Almost double the amount of reviews. It all just blows me away. And I want to say, 'thank you, thank you, thank you!'

You know the drill, Lola(LaurieWhitlock) is my beta, and bestest friend. Muahs

And of course, SM owns Twilight. I'm just playing with her world a little.

Read on!

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><p>BPOV<p>

"_Bella! Oh baby, you're finally home!"_

Esme rushed down the steps and over to us before I really grasp that it's her.

But when I do, I meet her halfway, and we both throw our arms around each other.

And I'm crying again.

Damn it.

I'm not used to crying this much. But having these people back in my life is so overwhelming.

"Oh sweetheart, don't cry. We're not going anywhere this time. I promise." She said, pulling back to cup my face with her hands. "My baby girl. You don't know how badly I've wanted to come back and see you over the years. I'm so sorry we didn't." I saw tears in her eyes now.

She's still so gorgeous. Barely aged, but she still has that caramel colored hair, that reminds me so much of Edward's, and her green eyes are still as bright as ever. Her skin… I can't even begin to get my head around the fact that she's about fifty years old, if I remember correctly. It's just so smooth, except for the small creases at the edges of her eyes. Those are the only thing that would tell her age.

Fuck, I wish I could look as good as she does when I'm fifty.

"I'm just so happy you all came back! I was starting to think I'd never see any of you again."

"Oh, you can't get rid of us that easily, honey." that fatherly voice sounded, from behind Esme.

I look past her and see Carlisle standing in the doorway with a smile on his face.

_Holy sweet mother of god._

That man still looks to be in his thirties. Much like Esme. The only giveaway is the slight graying hair at his temples. But sweet baby Buddha, he looks fucking good for his age.

I turned around to Edward and grabbed his face in both of my hands.

"Do you have any idea how well you two are going to age?" I looked him straight in the eyes.

I heard each of them laugh.

But it was true. Just looking at Carlisle and Esme would make you think they were ageless.

I turned back and started walking over to Carlisle, and he wraps me up in his arms, in a warm, comforting embrace.

"We missed you, sweetheart." He whispered in my ear, then pulled back to kiss my cheek.

"I missed you, too. All of you." I smiled.

Looking around at them, Edward with an arm around his mother's shoulders, Jasper with his arms crossed and standing beside Edward, I can't even understand why I'm considering staying in Forks. There's nothing there for me.

This family is all I need, or want. They treat me like I'm one of them. Not like I'm invisible, or that I don't matter. Don't I deserve to be happy and in an environment that's not mentally or emotionally toxic?

I turned around to face Edward and smile at him.

"I'm gonna do it. There's nothing stopping me from moving, so I think I'm gonna take you up on your offer. If it's still on the table, that is."

Edward reached out with one arm and wrapped it around my shoulders, and pulled me into him. "Of course it is. I wouldn't have it any other way. And I will make sure that everything is done this week." He whispered in my ear.

I patted his side, telling him I understood, and pulled away and followed Esme into the house.

The house is just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Sleek lines, but comfortable and inviting.

"Bella, honey, would you care to help me in the kitchen? I miss our baking time we used to have when you were little." Esme asked me as we made our way into the freaking awesome as hell kitchen.

I stood there; slack jawed for a minute, just looking at the kitchen. It was so incredibly modern, but still so classic looking. And it was huge!

"Ok, I'm moving into this kitchen, instead." I told her, jokingly.

But really, this was like a dream kitchen. Any and every appliance that you could possibly want, large, long island in the middle, humongous stove and hood, double wall ovens, beams over-head, cozy, but large breakfast area.

I let out a contented sigh just looking at it.

"You'll have to tell me what your dream kitchen is, sometime." I heard Edward say from behind me.

I looked back over my shoulder and gave him a smile.

That was just another way he made me feel special; he wanted to know the things I liked, what my dream kitchen would be.

"I'm gonna go talk to dad and Jasper for a few minutes. Are you gonna be ok in here?" He asked.

"Of course I will. I might even forget that you're in the house." I teased him.

"That, I would not be surprised by. You two always got in a world of your own when you were in the kitchen. I would go out and then come back in and neither of you knew I was gone." He fake pouted.

"That's because I love your mother more. Now go, so we can do our thing." I ruffled his messy hair, and then he tried to cover it from my attack.

"Hey, why does everyone have to mess with the damn hair?" He grumbled.

"It just can't be helped." I smiled.

He grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"It's so good to see you smile so much. I think this move will be a great thing for you." He told me, quietly.

I just nodded. He was right. I'm smiling all the time while I'm with these people and not thinking about shit that is back in Forks.

Edward walked off towards the stairs, and I turned back to the kitchen where Esme was smiling at me.

"He's so happy to have you back. It's been a long, long time since he's been this happy, sweetheart. He smiles more, too. You make him that way. You make _each other _that way." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

Ah crap, she's up to something.

We got to work on some goodies while lunch was cooking.

Esme was just as good of a baker as I remembered her being. She had some of the best recipes, and I could learn so much from her.

While we were working side by side, Esme spoke in a small voice.

"Bella, I'm really sorry. We shouldn't have stayed away so long. Edward even asked if you could come with us, and I was tempted to find a way to work that out, but I don't think that would have gone over well with your parents. If we had known any of that stuff was going on with your family, or what Black had done, we would have been on the first plane back here to get you and take you with us, if you wanted. We would have figured something out. But with the way Edward was talking about how your family is…"

"…They wouldn't have cared if I was gone." I finished for her.

She looked up and gave me a sad smile. "Baby, I don't know how they could treat you in such a way. You're a wonderful woman, and you've only been back in my life for a couple of hours. I can see the real you in just the short time, but they refuse to see it when they've known you your whole life. They don't deserve you giving them endless opportunities. But _you_ deserve to be happy, my darling."

I leaned my head onto her shoulder while she wrapped an arm around my waist.

"I know. I've always been told so many times that I'm useless, or worthless, that I'm stupid, that I'm not pretty, that I'll never make it in the world. Or tell me I'm a bitch and no one loves me. Other times I'm just ignored. I've never had positive encouragement. I've only ever been discouraged and degraded.

"But then I come here and I'm surrounded by people that actually care. That are happy to see me, and want to include me. Yeah, I've always shied away from things that make me uncomfortable, but you all make me feel the opposite. Granted, I'll still probably shy away from people and things that make me uncomfortable, but this is helping me, I guess, maybe, have hope in humanity again. All I've known is rejection, hurtful words and actions that brought me to tears. But I got to the point that I never wanted to let them see me cry. So it was always when I was alone in my room or my apartment that I would let it all out." Then I looked up at her. "I don't want to do that anymore. I want to be happy."

She wrapped her other arm around me and hugged me. "Oh Baby, we want you to be happy, too. And we're going to help you be happy all the time. Because you," She pulled my face up with both of her hands so she could look at me, "my beautiful daughter, deserve the world." I just looked at her in shock. "Sweetheart, even though I may not have given birth to you, you are still the daughter I never had. You always have been. And you can call me mom, or ma. All the other kids do. Now if anything becomes of you and Edward would certainly rectify that situation, but I'll leave that up to the two of you." She smiled at me.

Uhhhh…..

"Umm, Esme, I don't really… know…" I stuttered, but she spoke again.

"Sweetie, my son is a creature of habit. Once he's committed, he's _committed_." She reached down and took the locket I wore into her hand. "This was the start of a commitment. When I took him to the jewelry store, the week before we left, I saw a look in his eyes. A look that said he was loosing the best thing in his life. Money, a big house, any amount of friends, would never replace the one thing that he loved dearly. He even had it written on here." She flipped it over where 'Ti amo' was written on the back. "He was telling you then that he would always love you. And I know he did. You were all he could ever talk about when we were here. And then when we left, he would always stare at one of the pictures I had taken of you that sat on the table by his bed. He still has it.

"Bella, I know you've been hurt. But you need to let him in. Let your guard down a little. Not everyone is going to hurt you, honey. You know that man would never even consider hurting you. You are too important to him."

Holy Jesus. What the fuck do I say to that?

"I'll try to. I'm just… scared. What if I'm not good enough for him? What if I screw things up so badly that he'll never want to see me again?" I asked, with worry in my voice.

"That would never happen." I heard Edward's voice coming from the doorway.

I looked up and saw him standing there with his hands in his pockets.

Then I felt Esme walk behind me and leave us to talk.

"Bella, how could you even think that you wouldn't be good enough?" He said as he walked around the island.

"Edward, do you really have to as-"

"Yes, I do." He cut me off. "Do you have any idea, any concept at all, how important you are to me?" I just shook my head. "Just remembering you, when we were back in Chicago, brought a smile to my face. I think of you and my heart swells. And just seeing your beautiful face now, makes me forget about my lifestyle. Even for a moment, because when I look at you, I don't want to think about anything else. I just want to take in this gorgeous face and memorize every single feature of it." I just gaped at him. "I don't want to rush you into anything. But I do want to try. I've lost so much time with you, and I want to get to know you again. Learn everything about you."

I stood there, looking at him, hoping that I was hearing him right.

Is he asking me to date him?

God, that sounds so juvenile. But what else was I going to call it?

But, I wanted to try, too. With everything that I've been told in the last twenty-four hours, I still want to be… more than just a part of his life.

In all honesty, I want to feel worthy, of being with him.

"Edward, forget the fact that you're in the mafia. Are you really ready to be… involved with a girl who has issues and isn't exactly, worldly? Or educated? I'm not-" I started saying, but he cut me off again.

"Don't do that, B. Don't put yourself down. You are far beyond anything I could ever dream up. It may have only been less than a day, but mom was right. Once I'm committed, I'm completely committed. And that this locket was the start of it." He reached down and trailed a finger over the locket. "But I promise you that I will go slowly. I won't push you. I want you to be in control of this, do things at your pace. Please tell me you want this, too?"

"Of course I want this. But I _am_ scared. I'm scared that I won't be able to push past my issues and be what you need me to be. I want to be able to be confident and hold my head high when I'm with you. I need to get my head right, first before I embarrass you." I said the last part in a small voice as I looked down.

That was the one thing I was worried about if I was going to be with him. I was terrified that I was going to come across some unsavory character and I would end up flipping out. He doesn't need that kind of shit.

"I'll help you. Jasper, mom, dad, Rose when you call her. I want you to talk to Alice, too. She came from a shitty home, and her parents were not nice people. You would never know by just looking at either of them that they've ever been anything but happy and healthy.

"But I think the kids might be able to help, too. I know every parent says it about their own kids, but Mason and Izzy really know how to brighten up a person's day. You just can't help it sometimes, being around them. I think having them around might be fun. I just don't want it to make you sad because of… what you told us last night." He looked at me, a little worried.

I had always wondered why I got over the fact that I wouldn't be able to have kids, and not what Jacob or my family has done. But, I think part of it, is that kids make me happy. And even though they wouldn't be my own, I could always adopt a child that has no one to love them. There are so many kids in the system today, and they don't deserve to be in places where they're overlooked. They need attention and love, too.

But with Edward's kids? Would I be able to handle being around them and not resent the fact… that I wasn't their mother? That I really wish that I was?

However, it's something I'm willing to try, like he said. I want to try for him, and his children. Maybe he's right. Maybe they can help me heal.

I nod, hoping to covey my answers to all that he's said.

And I guess it does because he pulls me tight into his chest.

Then we hear the sound of the front door being thrown open.

"Daddy!" I hear both little voices yell.

"I'll be back." Edward says, and then steps away towards the front door.

I stand there for a moment, wondering how I got to this place. How I could go from yesterday; hating the fact that I was just a doormat for my family that I've always been around, to today; finding that being around the people that love me like their own family, and haven't seen in years, is what I've always really wanted. Missing them just made me realize that even though I have a family by blood, the family that loves you, regardless of your faults, is your true family.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of little feet and the two little voices again.

"Bella! Bella!"

I only saw Mason and Izzy for a second as they came barreling into the room, before they tackled me to the ground.

I'm shocked at first, but then I hear their sweet giggles, and I can't help but join in.

And that's how Edward found us; in a pile of giggles.

He looked a little worried at first, but when he saw us like that, he seemed to relax.

"We missed you, Bella! We asked Aunt Ali if we could see you again before we left Forky, but she said you were here with daddy, Uncle Jazzy, and Namie and PopPop. Are you gonna stay? We want you to stay! Daddy can she stay with us?" They both kept throwing out question after question, and I had to laugh when Mason called it Forky. These two were just too freaking cute for their own good.

"Woah, woah, woah, you guys. Give her some air. We'll answer your questions, but I think Namie said that lunch is just about ready, so why don't you both go wash up and see if you can round up PopPop and Uncle Jazz." Edward said as he hauled Mason up over his head, Mason squealing as he did.

They both ran off to the front hall, following, what I guess, was the way to the bathroom.

Edward turned back towards me, concern on his face.

"You ok? I'm sorry about them. They're usually better behav-… nope, you know, that's about how they usually are. But it does shock me that they took to a virtual stranger so well."

I sighed and smiled up at him. "I'm more than ok. This all just solidifies my decision to stay. I'd rather make a life here, where I'm wanted, than go back to Forks where there's nothing left for me."

"I'm glad. We've got a lot of catching up to do, my dear. And I plan on spending whatever time I can get with you." He said, and leaned down to kiss my cheek.

I couldn't help the smile, or the blush that overtook my face.

"I'm gonna go find Esme and see if she's willing to help me with a few decorating things for my suite. If you don't mind, that is."

"Do what ever you want with it. It's your area." He said, and then moved over to the refrigerator.

I walked down the hall, not sure where Esme might be. But most of the time, with family, and a big house, the best thing to do is this.

"MA!"

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><p>Soooo, like it? Hate it? Anyone cry?<p>

I hope you're all still enjoying the story. The pace is gonna start picking up a little, soon. Most of you are calling it that there's gonna be a blow up when Bella goes back to Forks and tells Renee and Charlie. We're getting close to something happening there. So keep reading. I've got lots of thoughts about things to happen with this story, and we'll get there. Eventually. I'm trying my best to roll things along.

Until next week at MBEB,

Laters!


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys! Ok, I'm still just so blown away by the reviews and the amount of people reading this story. It keeps growing and growing. And it doesn't seem to be lulling week by week, either. It's a steady number of people each week, and I can't thank you guys enough for reading and actually liking what I'm writing.

Ummm, oh, I did have a viewer that was asking if I would give quicker updates, and I know a lot of you are asking for faster updates, and at some point, I probably will go to a week and a half intervals, instead of two weeks. But right now, we're gonna stick with two weeks, because my entire writing schedule has been thrown off the past two weeks. Bleh! but I will let you know when that happens.

Annnnd Lola(LaurieWhitlock) is my awesome beta, and awesome in general person. (MBEB may be to you tonight. Still trying to finish it up)

And SM owns Twi. Not me *sad facey*

Ok, I'll see ya at the bottom.

Read on!

* * *

><p>BPOV<p>

"_MA!"_

I hear Esme and the kids in the bathroom just down the hall. As I get closer, I see her poke her head out. The smile on her face when I see her is so bright, that she could light up the whole house. I guess she's happy that I made that jump to calling her 'mom'.

"Yes, baby girl?" She asked as she wiped her hands.

I walked towards the bathroom where the kids were washing their hands.

"Umm, I was wondering if you would help me think about some stuff, decorating wise, for my suite at the hotel. He told me to let him know anything I wanted to do differently with it, and I just want to have some of my stuff incorporated, and maybe set aside a room for my books. Kind of like a library/getaway within the suite. Somewhere that's serene and happy."

She beamed at me. "I'd love to help you with that! Tell me what you're thinking of, I'm sure we can come up with something outstanding. I've got an idea that's been rolling around in my head that might work for what you're talking about, but let's both think and then talk after dinner. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great." I looked over at Izzy and Mason, who were both tugging on either end of a hand towel, trying to dry their hands. And then something else hit me. "Umm… what do you think Edward would say to me having a room in my suite for the two of them? We've got an 'understanding' that if he's called away for work, that he can call me to watch them, if I'm available. I really don't mind, and I'd rather, if they came down to my suite, that they were comfortable and had their own space to call theirs."

"That's a wonderful idea, sweetheart! Ok, we've got a lot to think about, so let me go up to get some ideas for you to look over. And we can sit down later and figure out a plan for everything." She reached out, cupped my cheek and kissed the other. "Mason, Izzy, why don't you both go knock on Pop Pop's office door and see if they're coming down for lunch or not."

The two of them ran off down the hall and up the stairs. Esme hooked her arm in mine as we turned back to go to the kitchen. "Baby girl, I can't tell you how good it is to have you back in our lives. It just feels more complete around here, now that we found you again."

"Trust me, ma, it feels the same way for me." I whispered, feeling the start of tears in my eyes. But I fought them back. I was tired of crying. I've got a family around me that care and loves me. I don't want to think of the life, or non-life, I had back in Forks. This is definitely where I need to be.

As we all gathered around the table, it seemed I was the popular one. Mason and Izzy were fighting over who got to sit next to me.

It's a good thing Esme and Carlisle had a nice big dining room table, so this could be settled, easily.

"Hey, you guys, you know you can both sit beside me, just on either side." I said, then they looked at each other then scurried over to the table, where there were three chairs on one side, three on the other, and two at either end. Mason and Izzy both got into their chairs, with one sitting between them, waiting for me to join them.

"Hey! What am I? Chopped liver?" Edward exclaimed, playfully behind me.

I turned my head and looked up at him. "I think you've been replaced as their favorite." I joked, and then felt him pinch me on either side of my back, tickling me, and making me squeal a little bit.

"Ooo, still ticklish, I see." He laughed, and I just scowled at him.

"You are _so _going to get it later." I growled, but he just gave me his favorite smirk.

_Damn it!_

As we sat down, Esme said smiling, "Even after all this time, you two just fall back into old habits with each other"

I guess that was true. We really had, and I didn't even notice it. It just felt natural. Like it was something we'd always done. And I didn't even feel worried, freaked out, or anything. It made me happy to know that I could be so relaxed around this family.

Lunch was great. Edward ended up sitting at the end of the table across from his dad, while Esme, Alice and Jasper sat across from me and the kids.

And boy, were those kids a riot. The two of them just fed off of each other, and they never missed a beat. They reminded me of how Jasper and Edward were when they were that age. Nothing was off limits to them, and I loved to see that.

Alice, I noticed, was eyeing me at the beginning of dinner. I wasn't sure if it was something I did, or if she was just trying to size me up. Probably trying to see if I was any good for Edward, or not.

And God I hope I was.

I guess she found what she was looking for, because about halfway through, she stopped giving me weird looks, and actually engaged me in conversation.

Since Esme made lunch, and I helped with dessert, it was Carlisle, Jasper and Edward that cleaned up and did the dishes. I had a feeling this was a normal thing in their house, because I can't imagine Esme giving up her kitchen to anyone.

While the guys were in the kitchen, Esme, Alice and I sat in the living room, while the kids went into the back yard to play in their new play area.

Esme and I started going over some things for what I asked in my suite, and Alice helped too, when she found out what we were working on. Which I didn't mind. I could use the help and input.

"What I was thinking was something like a getaway type of room. Part of it, I want to be, kind of a reading nook. The other part, I want it to be open, so I can dance a little. Dancing usually helps me unwind and work things out in my mind." I explained to them what I wanted.

Esme nodded, looking like she was deep in thought.

"Ok, I think I might have something. What do you think of a navy or dark plum on the walls? And overhead, twinkling lights in the ceiling. Maybe some trees drawn on the walls in a silver themed color scheme. Some scrolling at the top of each corner of the room that would look like vines. Possibly a silver colored chaise, with a few white pillows. A white and gray rug on the floor around the reading area. And leaving the rest of the area open for your dancing. A side table with a stereo on it." She told me as she pointed out some pictures of ideas that could come together as the room she was talking about.

I thought about what she was telling me, trying to see it in my mind. From what I remembered of the room, I think it would look amazing. I really like the plum purple idea, because that's one of my favorite colors. And I'd asked Edward if I could get that as my comforter in my room. So I think that would help in pulling it all together in the suite. Now we just had to figure out something for the kids' room.

"I love everything about that idea. I'd much rather have the plum colors, because it's a favorite of mine, and the comforter in my bedroom will be plum purple. I think it will be perfect. Will that be easily done in there?" I asked her.

She smiled at me. "Of course, my darling. I'll go over there this week and oversee everything that's being done in there. Now, would you like to move on to the children's room?"

I nodded and she brought out a few other things to look at.

"How about if we keep with the outdoor theme, and sort of split the room down the middle, having Izzy on one side, where there are flowers and trees on the walls. And have Mason on the other side, with just trees and maybe a few animals on the walls. Make it subtle, though. Maybe light blue walls, with the trees and flowers on it. Perhaps do it like the reading room, with the trees and flowers and such in a silver, white and, or brown color. Nothing terribly detailed, but you'd still know what it is. Just enough that you'll know which side of the room is Izzy's and Mason's. But not enough where it looks really off. What do you think, honey?"

Again, I thought about what she was describing, and really loved it. I mean the kids wouldn't be there all the time, but it would at least be something for them.

"I like it. I wouldn't want to break up the whole suite in tons of different themes in each room, so I think this all sounds great. Can I ask how hard it would be to do the twinkle lights in each of the rooms? The reading room, my room, and the kids' room?" I asked her, because I wouldn't mind having that in my room. I think it would look awesome with the moon on the wall.

"It shouldn't be a problem. I'll talk to the team that is working on the remodel, and tell them what we're deciding, and make sure it's all done this week. You'll come back next weekend, won't you?" She looked at me, hopefully.

Hmmm. I really did want to come back, but wasn't sure if I was working next weekend or not… or if I still even had a job. Jessica could have just thrown me under the bus with Mike and I'd be out of the job because she gets priority for being his fuck buddy.

Blech.

"Umm, I'll see what my work schedule looks like, but if I'm not working, then yeah, I'll definitely come back. I'd really rather just tell them to screw off because I'm sick of their crap, but I'm not sure that would go over well in future job references."

"Oh Bella, don't worry about work. Let's get you moved, and then when you're here, permanently, then we'll worry about work. You don't have bills to worry about here, except for maybe your cell, so that won't be too hard. Oooh! We should go shopping! Get you an all new wardrobe! And you can help us with shirt designs for the bar! This is going to be so exciting!" Alice went on, clapping her hands as she got more and more excited about my move.

"Woah, Alice. Calm down. I've gotta make sure things are settled back in Forks before I can just drop everything and move, tomorrow. I need to go ahead and call Mike and see what the deal is there, before I can plan anything else. Actually, let me go ahead and do that, so I can get things figured out. Excuse me, for a minute." I told them, and stood to go get my phone, and headed out the back door to the deck.

"Cedar Creek Tavern, how can I help you?" I heard Mike's voice come through the phone.

"Hey Mike, its Bella."

"Bella! Hey, what the hell happened last night? I've never seen you act like that before. Was it that guy that was here last night? Was he bothering you?" Mike started rattling off questions, and good god, he wouldn't shut up sometimes.

"Mike, its fine. Jasper isn't a problem. He's one of my oldest friends, and I needed to get out of there because we needed to drive to Seattle, last night. But I need to talk to you about the job. I'm going to have to quit, because I'm moving to Seattle, for a new job. So I need to know if I've still got my job there for the next week or two, or if you're going to just let me go after last night."

"Wow… Uhh, could you maybe finish out the week here, and get Jessica's training finished up? That would at least give me a week to find another person to take over for you. I don't think I would have let you go after last night. Jess was out of line. She needs to learn that she can't just walk all over people. Don't worry about her." Mike said, and I was a little surprised that he was being so understanding about this.

Although, Mike did always kind of have a crush on me, but he was always such an annoyingly, puppy dog type. I don't think I could have ever been in any sort of relationship with him. I'd probably be the one wearing the pants in the relationship.

"Ok, thanks. That would be great. I've got to get things taken care of around there so I can get things moved to Seattle. I guess I'll see you Monday night, Mike. Bye." I ended the call with him then made my way back to Alice and Esme.

"So, I've got a week left to work. I can start working on packing when I get back. I know I'm going to have to drive back there every couple of weeks, but I'll deal with that when the time comes. I know my mom is going to have herself a fit when she finds out I'm moving." I said when I sat back down with the two of them.

"Oh honey, don't worry about them. If need be, I'll talk to Renee, and tell her we need you here for the opening of the bar. And if I have to, I'll pull out the grandma card, and tell her I need your help with the kids. We'll get you through it, sweetie." Esme hugged me to her side.

"Thanks. I just… feel like I'm abandoning her because no one else seems to want to step up and take care of her. But, she'll get through it. It'll take a little while for her to adjust, but she can't expect me to stay there for the rest of my life as her nurse-maid." I huffed in frustration. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, baby. Edward told me a little of what's been going on, and you really just need to do things for yourself, now. You're almost twenty-six. This is your time to figure out what you want out of life. Your parents should be supporting you." Esme said in a sympathetic voice.

"I know. But I'm just so used to everything I've been told, and how I've been treated over the years. I know I should look out for myself and all, but I've always been told differently. Especially since my mom got sick. It's always been; 'Bella, go do this for me', 'Bella, I need you to fix this', 'Bella, I need you to cook dinner every night', 'Bella, go get gas in my car', 'Bella take me to the doctor', 'Bella, I don't care if you've got plans, you're going to do this for me', 'Bella', 'Bella', 'Bella'. I feel like Cinderella sometimes." I said, dejectedly.

It was Alice who spoke up.

"Bella, did Edward tell you anything about my parents?" I shook my head, no. "He asked me to talk to you sometime, and see if maybe Rosalie and I could help you, a little.

"My parents didn't give a damn about me, when I was younger. My dad would hit me, a lot of the time. My mom wasn't really a mother. She was around, but really just wasn't a parent. My dad even threw me down the stairs when I was seventeen.

"I thanked God, every day, that I had Jasper and his family. They were the family I didn't have at home. I stayed at their house more than I stayed at my own. I _wanted_ to be there, more than at my house.

"So I sort of know what you're dealing with. I had support from this family to help me get through everything, and to help me get better; happier. Now it's your turn. You deserve to be happy, and to feel better about yourself. Let us help you get through the rough patches, so that you can have the life you deserve to have."

I had tears running down my face after she was done. I got up from my spot and went to Alice's side, pulling her into a tight hug. I would have never known, just from seeing her, and how she acts. She's so chipper and bubbly.

I guess it was possible to be in that kind of situation, and come out a better person.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Alice." I told her, quietly.

She just nodded into my shoulder, and then pulled back.

"All three of you girls could learn something from the others. You're all strong, and have been through so much. You _can_ get through it. And you all have the support of your family. I consider each of you to be my daughters. I may have only had my two boys, physically. But I consider myself to be the mother of six." Esme smiled at us, sweetly.

"Thanks, Ma." I smiled back at her.

We heard a few pairs of feet coming down the stairs, and then saw the guys come around the corner. Edward looked around at us, and at me and Alice, still with our arms around each other.

"Ok, what'd we miss?" He asked, slightly curious.

"Nothing. Just getting to know Bella a little better." Alice said, giving me a little squeeze.

Edward nodded, and then looked back at his dad and Jasper, who were talking quietly to Esme.

"Umm, we have to go to work. I'm not sure when we'll be back. Bella, if you guys just want to stay here, with mom and the kids, that's fine. I know mom would love to have you all to herself." He told us, winking at the last part.

I laughed at that. I really missed time with Esme, over the years.

Alice got up and walked over to where Jasper was, and hugged him tightly. And he returned it by wrapping his arms around her shoulders, holding her to him, as closely as he could.

It made me realize that they were going off to potentially dangerous situations, and it made my stomach turn in knots. I didn't want Edward, or the others, to get hurt.

I guess Edward saw the worry in my eyes and he came over to comfort me.

"Hey, don't worry too much. We're trying to make our mark around here. Let the underworld of Seattle know that we're here to stay and that we're going to fight, tooth and nail, to be the top family. We'll be back later."

"You promise, you'll be back?" My voice quivered a little, but I tried to cover it up.

He obviously caught it, though, and put a finger under my chin to pull my face up, so I was looking at him in the eye.

"Promise." He said, strongly, then grabbed my pinky with his, and kissed my cheek.

When he pulls away to walk out the front door with his dad and Jasper, I'm left a little dumbfounded. But I'm also incredibly touched. He took one of our childhood 'secrets', and made it into a sign of promise.

Alice, Esme and I all sat back down and talked over more things for the suite, and just caught up. I learned more about Alice, and honestly, she's an amazing woman. She's so strong, and to see that there doesn't seem to be any lingering effects from being around her parents. But I guess since she never went back and doesn't talk to them anymore, that that kind of helps with the healing process. She said she doesn't even know where her parents are, or if they're even alive. This means they don't know the same about her. And that actually is really sad. They don't care enough to worry whether their own child is alive or dead.

Some people just majorly suck.

Esme told me more about things in the family, and how some of the 'business' is handled.

She doesn't know the ins and outs of it, but she knows enough to tell me what to expect and how they handle it, as the wives, girlfriends, and such.

…I'm not a wife or girlfriend, though…

Before we know it, it's dark outside, and Mason and Izzy have come in and are lying on the rug in the living room, watching a movie.

We end up making a small dinner for us and the kids, when they start grumbling that they're hungry. We're not sure when the guys will be back, but Esme said one of them would have called if there had been a problem.

I don't know how the fuck she does this shit on a regular basis. It's nerve racking.

When it gets to be about nine in the evening, Mason and Izzy are rubbing their eyes.

"Alright, you two go on up and get dressed for bed. You're gonna stay here tonight." Esme told them, ushering them up the stairs.

They're about halfway up the stairs when they stop and turn around, looking straight at me.

"Bella? Will you read to us?" Izzy says in a tired, sweet voice.

How the hell can I say no to her?

"Sure, sweetie." I say, as I get up and walk up the stairs with them.

I follow them to their shared bedroom, and they both go and get dressed for bed.

Once they're ready, they get into each of their beds, snuggle down under the covers, and I wait for them to get comfortable.

"Ok, where am I sitting?" I asked, looking between the two beds on either side of the room.

I can't be the one to choose between them.

"Me!" "Me!" They both say.

I crinkle up my face, because I have a feeling that this is a regular occurrence.

"Ok, how about this; you guys decide on who I sit with tonight, and the next time you want me to read to you, I'll sit with the other. How does that sound?" I asked them, and saw agreement on their faces.

"You can sit with Iz tonight. But I want my turn, too." Mason gave in to his sister.

I have no doubt that that is a regular occurrence, as well.

I walk over to Izzy's bed and she hands me the book they want me to read.

Ironically, it's 'Oh the places you'll go' by Dr. Seuss.

As I sit down on the bed, Izzy snuggles into my side, and I open the book.

I've noticed that none of the people in this family have made me freak out or flinch, like I usually do with other people. Maybe they're healing me. Or I may be back to the same way when I go back to Forks, or out on the streets of Seattle. I won't know until I go out there and figure it out.

I start reading to them, and only halfway through, Izzy's breathing is evened out. Mason isn't far behind her.

I keep reading, and the words seep into my mind, rooting my decision to move here, even further.

When I reach the end of the book, I feel like someone is watching me, and I look up to see Esme with her phone in her hand, like she's just taken a picture.

Then I look down and notice that I've got an arm around Izzy, and she is tightly snuggled into my side, with an arm around my waist.

I get up and make my way over to the door after I turn off the lamp, leaving the small night light on.

I walkout to where Esme is, she pulls the door partly closed and turns to me.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. It was just too cute to pass up. You're so good with them. You're good _for_ them. All of them." she said in a low voice.

I start shaking my head. "Esme, I don't want to push myself on them, or Edward. Yes, Edward and I said that we would try to be… whatever it is that we're going to be. But I have to take things slow. I have to heal along the way. But, maybe someday, I could be good enough for them." I said, looking back at the door of the kids' room.

"No, Bella. You're more than good enough. You just have to see it for yourself. And you will. We're going to make sure you see it, and we're going to tell you that every day. You _are_ good enough, you _are_ wonderful, you _are_ worthy of love,and you _are_ better than what your family has told you that you are all your life. Don't let them pull you down, sweetheart." she said as she cupped both of my cheeks.

I just nodded, trying not to cry.

"Ok. Why don't you go and lay down in Edward's room. Its right over there, and there are a few of his clothes in there. I know there were some t-shirts, and some boxers, and such. If you want to change into something to sleep in, I'm sure he won't mind. Unless you want to borrow something of mine."

"I'll just borrow his stuff. Thank you for letting me stay here, tonight. I'd be worrying myself ragged the whole night if I was alone in my suite." I told her, quietly.

"Oh honey, don't even mention it. You are welcome here anytime you want. You don't even have to call or knock; you can just walk in the front door. Oh, and I'll get you a key, too. You're family, so you need a key to the family house." She smiled at me.

"Thank you. Ok, goodnight, Ma."

"Goodnight, baby." she kissed my cheek, then turned and walked down the stairs.

I made my way to Edward's room and quietly took the whole thing in.

It wasn't overly decorated, but it didn't have to be. Navy blue walls, ornate wood bed, white bedding, large dresser, TV and TV stand, a chair and ottoman, and just a couple of pictures.

I guessed that the tees and boxers would be in the dresser so I went about getting changed out of my dress and into something to sleep in.

I didn't realize that I was as sleepy as I am. But I guess the worry was what was keeping me awake.

I climbed into Edward's bed, and curled up under the comfy blanket.

Quicker than I thought, I was sleeping, and dreaming of what my life could possibly be. Lots of different scenarios played across my dreams, confusing me beyond belief. But I did know one thing, in all of them; Edward wasn't too far away from me. Which I took as a good sign.

Some time during the night, I felt the bed shift and a warm body scoot in behind me.

I could feel that it was Edward. I mean, I should have known it was him, but it was always that I could feel if he was close by, like right now, without having to see or hear him.

But that still didn't stop me from turning my head to check and make sure he was there and ok. I _had _to make sure he was physically there, and unharmed.

"Shhh, it's just me, sweet B. Go back to sleep." He whispered, scooting closer to me and wrapping an arm around me.

_Perfect._

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><p>Again, as a group, "Awww". I just had to end it there. It was too sweet to interrupt.<p>

Anywho, Oh! Sneaky peek at next week for MBEB (for those of you that are actually reading it) we get to see some mob stuff, and someone gets shot. Mwahahahahaha!

Yeah that's all you're getting. Lol. Sorry, can't give too much away:p

Alright, until next week at MBEB.

Laters!


	10. Chapter 10

Hey you guuuuyyyyyysss! Again, I can't even begin to tell you how grateful and happy I am about all the reviews and favs. You seriously make it all the more fun to write this story.

Which is why I have some exciting news, but you'll have to wait til we get to the end notes. :p haha!

Sorry, couldn't help myself *Halo*

Definitely got some good stuff in the works. Also getting some dramatics in there. (I know, it's not like I haven't had enough of those already, right? Lol) But, seriously, I've got loads of plans, and we're just getting started here.

As usual, Lola is my beta. But for the love of god, I miss being able to talk to her, since her internet is still down. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! Next week's chapter may end up being un-beta'd, we'll see ho that goes.

And SM owns Twilight. We all just wish we did.

Read on!

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><p>BPOV<p>

As I felt the early morning light coming through the window, I also felt something behind me… and not something innocent.

Well, he may not have realized it was pressing into my bottom, but Edward's morning wood was very prominent… in more ways than one.

It made me a little worried, but very excited, at the same time. Excited, for obvious reasons. I did feel a very strong connection to Edward, stronger than when we were little. Hormones were definitely in play, here.

But it also worried me because I've always shied away from any form of male attention. Though, knowing that it was Edward, and that he would never, ever hurt me, made me feel a little more comfortable.

I, unconsciously, shifted in the bed, not realizing that I was brushing up against him so much, until he let out a groan.

I froze, hoping that I hadn't woken him up.

The tightening of his arms around my waist, and his face burrowing into my hair, made me gasp. His breath was rolling across the back of my neck, and behind my ear, making me shiver.

In a good way.

I guess he finally had some clarity and felt what was going on.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't mean for… that, to make you uncomfortable." His groggy, sleep-filled voice came from behind me.

"No, it's ok. I know it happens to guys. You can't help it." I told him as I turned around to face him.

"But you shouldn't have to deal with-"

"Hey, knock it off. I know you, and you would never do what he did. You're my protector, remember? You could never hurt me. You said so yourself." I told him, confidently.

He looked at me for a second, then dipped his head and pecked me on the lips, with his eyes on mine the whole time.

_Fuck, his lips are soft._

I just looked at him for a few moments, then a huge smile broke across my face before I snuggled back into his chest.

This was all so comfortable, and felt incredibly normal. Like this is something we've done for years and years. But we haven't. Maybe we're just that in tuned with each other.

Which suites me, just fine.

"You know we used to lay like this when we were little and had sleepovers. How can it feel like a lifetime ago, but still feel like it was yesterday?" He mused from his spot over my head.

I hummed. "I don't know. I was trying to figure out the same thing. How this can be so normal for us, even though it's been years. But I like it." I whispered the last bit.

"I like it, too." I heard him say.

We laid like that for a while longer until he started moving his arms and hands around, when I saw the angry red marks on his knuckles.

"Oh my God! What happened to your hand?"

"B, calm down. I just had a run in with someone's face, and my hand didn't really like it all that much. It's fine, though. Nothing's broken, the swelling went down. It just has to heal where the skin broke. No biggy." He tried to placate me, but I still didn't like it.

I just looked at him warily, to which he looked down, and wiggled his fingers, showing me that they were able to move.

I let it go, for now anyways. I know he's not a little boy anymore, but I still don't like seeing him hurt.

"Come on, beautiful. I know mom's probably got breakfast started. We'll eat and head back to the hotel. I know you said you needed to get some stuff done when you get back to Forks, but would you like to spend the afternoon with the kids and me?"

I thought for a second, and that really sounded good. I'd rather spend a little bit of time with them, then to head straight back to Forks and get reamed by my mom and dad.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Let me just get my dress back on, and I'll be downstairs in a few minutes." I told him, as I started getting up from the bed.

I grabbed my dress and walked into the bathroom, doing my business and then pulling my hair up into a ponytail. Gah, I needed to get a shower when I got home.

I stopped in my tracks when I realized what I said…or thought, rather.

I'm already calling my suite at the hotel, my home. Which, I mean yes, it was going to be in a week or so, but still…

Ah fuck it. This house, and the hotel were my home now. I don't feel like I have a home in Forks, and I haven't felt that I have for a long time.

Shaking my head, I made my way down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Where, of course, Esme was making an awesome breakfast.

"Need any help?" I asked, as I walked around the island.

"Nope. Just getting these last few pancakes done, then we can eat. How'd you sleep, baby?" she asked, flipping a couple of pancakes onto the tray.

"I slept great. I was worried for part of the night, but when Edward got into the bed, I calmed down. I don't know how you can deal with this kind of anxiety every time they go off to do these kinds of things. How do stay calm?" I asked her quietly, hoping not to draw too much attention from the kids, or Edward and Carlisle.

"Years and years of practice, sweetheart. Don't fret so much. You'll learn to grin and bear it, eventually. People will ask you how you're holding up, or if you're ok when they're out in the field, and you just have to smile. No one really questions you further after that. But it does take it's toll, sometimes." She told me, getting the rest of the pancakes onto the tray and walking over to the table, and depositing them.

That was something to think on.

As Edward came around the island to help me with drinks for everyone, I noticed him looking straight at my back.

_Ah crap._

He was looking at the tattoo that was in between my shoulder blades.

He didn't say anything, but I knew he would ask about it later.

Breakfast was pretty quiet, aside from the kids. But it was nice, comfortable.

After the kids were done, they ran up stairs to get their things, so that we could head back to the hotel.

"Bella, don't worry about your suite. I'll make sure everything is taken care of this week. It will be perfect. I'll send you updates during the week." Esme told me, clapping her hands. "Oh I'm so excited that you're moving here. No all we have to do is wait until Emmett and Rose can move out here, then I'll have all my kids in the same place."

"Mom, don't push it so much. Emmett's gotta make sure everything's taken care of in Chicago before he can even think of moving out here. You'll love Em, little B. He's one of the biggest characters you'll ever meet, but he's also a huge teddy bear." Jasper said as he and Alice were gathering their few things to head out the door.

I smiled at him. "I can't wait to meet him. From what you've all said, he seems like a fun guy."

"He is. Oh! Here, hand me your phone." I pulled it out and handed it over to Alice. "I'm going to put my number, and Rose's number in here so you can call and talk to us, about _anything_. Don't worry about what time, if you need to talk something out, just give either of us a ring." Alice told me, and I knew what she was talking about. She wanted me to call and talk if I needed to talk about my issues from Jacob, or my parents. Which I was grateful for.

I nodded and gave her a hug, making my way around to Carlisle and Esme as well.

"Bella, if you notice anything or anyone that seems off to you, call us and let us know what's going on, and we'll look into it. You shouldn't have any trouble, but we don't want to send you out there blind. We just want you to be safe." Carlisle told me, quietly, as I hugged him.

"Sure."

We made our way out to Edward's SUV, the kids climbing in the back, and Jasper and Alice getting into Alice's car. We all drove off, back towards the hotel.

I waved back at Esme and Carlisle as we went down the driveway, not missing the tear I saw fall down Esme's face.

I turn back so I'm facing forward, and hold back the urge to let a tear fall, myself.

A hand on my arm pulls my focus back to Edward.

"Don't worry, you'll see them next weekend. Then you'll start to get tired of them being around all the time." He joked, lightly, trying to make me smile.

Which worked.

But I'm still going to miss them while I'm gone.

When we got back to the hotel, they dropped me off on my floor, so I could shower and change.

When I was dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, a pair of vans on my feet, and my hair air drying, I was about to head out of my door.

My phone ringing stopped me, and I answered it without looking at the screen.

_Big mistake._

"Hello?"

"Isabella! Where in the fucking hell are you, you worthless shit?" Charlie's angry, drunk voice came from the other line.

"Charlie, I'm in Seattle, with friends. I told mom the other night that I was leaving. I don't have to clear it with you two if I want to go somewhere." I tried to stay calm.

It wasn't really working, but I said I'm trying.

"I don't give a shit if you're having dinner with the pope! Get your ass back here and take care of your mother, you lazy bitch. She's getting on my nerves with her complaining. You're suppose to be dealing with this mess. I don't have time for this crap."

"Yes, I'm sure your drinking schedule completely fills your day, where you have no time to care for your wife. You know, the woman you vowed to love and care for, in sickness and in health? Is that ringing any fucking bells, you douche?" Ok, so me staying calm wasn't going to happen.

Oh fucking well. I'm tired of being pushed around by them.

"Watch your mouth, you ungrateful snot! You get back here and deal with this! I'm getting tired of listening to her. I can't believe you just took off and left her here like this. God, do you ever think of anyone but yourself?" Oh hell fucking no!

"Are you kidding me right now?! All I ever do is think of others! All I ever _do_ is for others. _I_ take care of her, _I_ cook for her, _I_ take her to the doctor, _I _clean up her mess when she can't make it to the bathroom. _I _do everything for that woman, and everyone else when they see fit! So fuck you! I'm doing something for me, for once. And you know what? I'm only going to be living there for another week. I'm moving to Seattle so that I can work on _my_ life. So you're going to have to pull your head out of your ass and start 'dealing' with mom, by yourself." I let my rant end, and hung up on him.

That felt good.

Ah crap. I told him that I was moving.

Shit, shit, shit.

I was gonna wait until I was back in Forks to tell them. Now he's gonna tell my mother what he thinks about my moving away, and the stupid shit, that only he can come up with, and then not even tell her the real reason that I said that I was moving.

Well, I guess I'll be hearing from mom in a while.

_Fuck!_

I thought about whether I should go ahead up to Edward's, or wait for the inevitable phone call that I know is coming.

No. I'm not gonna answer it when she calls. I'm not in the mood to deal with her. I've already had to put up with my dad's shit, I'm not going for round two with my mom.

I want to have a good time, with the little time that I have left here before I go back to Forks.

I tuck my phone in my back pocket and make my way up to Edward's suite.

When I stepped out of the elevator, I was greeted by a very opulent entry and doorway. It was all bright; white and blue walls, and large wood doors. It was also the only door on the floor. Which works out well. I think all the floors on the upper levels work well for the family. It's isolated from the rest of the hotel, where you have to have specific access to get up this high.

I knocked on the door and hear little squeals from the other side.

I can't help but smile. Those kids… are _so _special. It could be partly because they're Edward's, but they're so incredibly sweet and fun. They have great personality and are so good as a team. Just like Edward and Jasper.

The door opened and I was suddenly pulled in by two little hands.

Before I could even say 'hi' to Edward, Mason and Izzy are dragging me down the hallway to, what I'm guessing, is there bedroom.

Along the way, Edward's place is setup much like mine, but the walls are all a light blue with white trim, white furniture pieces, dark brown sofas, wood coffee table and entertainment center.

That was about all I saw before my line of sight was cut off when we went down the hallway.

Walking into the bedroom, I notice it is actually Mason's room.

There's no way that they're sharing, because Izzy doesn't seem like the type that is into outer space.

Which is what I'm looking at. There is a solar system handing from the ceiling, moons and stars all on the wall. Mason even showed me the moon light on his wall that goes through the phases of the moon. The walls are navy blue, under all the fun stuff.

There's also some little rockets here and there, along with a few astronauts.

I notice, as I look closer, that the stuff that's on the walls are wall clings, so that they can be changed whenever Mason's interest changes.

_Smart move._

"I love your room , Mason. Are you planning on becoming an astronaut when you grow up?" I asked him as I was looking around.

He went and jumped up on his bed, showing me more stuff.

"I don't know yet. I like space and want to know more about it. But I don't know if I actually want to be in it. It's so big out there. I don't really know what I would do when I grow up."

I couldn't help but laugh. He was just too cute. "Of course it's big out there. It's never ending. It means you'll never ever find the end of outer space, for as long as you live, now matter what. But it is fun to study it. And you know you can do anything you want to, when you grow up. You can be an astronaut, a movie star, a rock star, you can study marine animals, anything. Your daddy loves you, and will help and support you for whatever you want to do. Just make sure it's what _you _want to do." I told him, hoping he could get from this conversation, that I never got when I was little.

He looked up at me from where he was sitting. "Will you sup… sport me, too?" He asked, and couldn't be any cuter.

"You mean 'support'?" He nodded. "Of course I will. I know what it's like to be pulled back from what you want to do with your life. And you and Izzy shouldn't have to worry about any of that kind of stuff. And you can always count on me to be your personal cheerleader." I smiled at him at his cheerful face.

"Bella! Come see my room too!" Izzy grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the hall. I also grabbed Mason's hand too, pulling him with us. He just giggled and followed.

We walked into the room next to Mason's, and I saw the cutest French theme.

There were framed pictures on the light lavender walls, of things in France. The Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Louvre. There was also a large wall cling of the Eiffel Tower on one wall. On the opposite wall was a black wrought iron bed, that had a swirling design in it. The bedding was that French black and white floral sheets and comforter, with lots of pillows. There were a few wrought iron pieces on the walls too, just to give it a little more flair.

I really loved how sweet this room was. It was bordering on childhood, and teenager. But could go either way. Which means she could keep her room this way for years and years to come.

"Oh I think I'd rather move in here with you, Izzy. I love this! It's really fun, and cute. You guys have the best rooms ever. Did Namie help you two decorate your rooms?" I asked, as I looked around her room. It really was freaking awesome.

"Uh huh! Namie loves decorating, and said she would redo our rooms anytime we wanted. We've gotten two new rooms since we moved here! We have these rooms, and our room and Namie and PopPop's. But she said too that when we wanted to, we could each have a room of our own at their house." Izzy responded, as she was showing me some of the pictures on the wall.

There were also some pictures of her and Mason and Edward sitting on her dresser. They look so great as a family. They really look so much like him.

"Hey Bella?" I hear Mason ask from behind us, and I turn to look at him.

"What's up, buddy?"

"How come you got marks on your arms, like daddy does on his body and arms?" He asked, pointing at my wrists.

I walk over and sit down on Izzy's bed, and pat the spots on either side of me. Which they scramble over, eagerly.

"Uh… Well, I got these a few years back, to help remind me of something. A way to keep it close to me, all the time. So there was no way that I could ever possibly forget it. It was something very, very important to me. And I wanted to hold onto every little piece I could. Your dad's are like that, too. Most all of his are about his family. That's important to him. He wanted to represent his family on his body. It's just a way to express yourself."

"Daddy has our names on his back. And writing like this. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks like another language. What is it?" Izzy asks, examining my arms.

"It's Italian. I'm Italian. So is your daddy. It's part of my heritage. So when I wanted to get these done, I wanted something that not exactly everyone could read and understand. There are only a few people that I know, that could actually read it. And of course your family can read it." I explained.

"Can you tell us what it says?" Mason asked.

"Sure. This one," I showed them my right wrist, "Says 'My green eyes'. And this one," then showed them my left, "Says 'My protector'."

"What's that mean?" Izzy asks, this time.

"Well, it's something I used to call your dad when we were little. Your dad, and uncle Jasper, and Namie and PopPop lived here for about a year when your dad was about six. And your dad protected me on the playground. That's how I met him. And I've always called him 'my protector'. And of course, your daddy has green eyes."

"Daddy protected you like I did for Izzy yesterday?" Mason asked, with wonder in his eyes.

"Yep. You get your protective nature from him." I smiled, and wrapped an arm around him.

"Bella?" Izzy asks after we've been playing together on the floor in their playroom for a while. We've been having so much fun together, and I'm already falling in love with these kids.

"Yes, sweetheart?" I ask as I'm helping her put together a puzzle.

She asks, as if she was asking for a cookie, but still had a look of pure hope on her little face, "Will you be our mom?"

_Uhhhhhh…._

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><p>Too soon? I don't care, because, like I've said before, this is my story, it is a fanfic, this is how it goes in my head. Just roll with me.<p>

If you think that was too soon, wait til next chapter. :p

Which brings me tooooooo…

*BIG HUGE EXCITING NEWS!*

I will update THIS story next week, as opposed to MBEB. MBEB doesn't have enough info for a full on chapter, and I don't want to give you guys just half a chapter. And this story I'm already over halfway through chapter 12. So, next week, MGEMP updates, MBEB will update the week after that.

Ok, you guys can loose your shit now. Lol

Alrighty. Now that we got that out of the way, let me know your thoughts.

Until next week, right here,

Laters!


	11. Chapter 11

Hilllloooo peoppppllllleee!

Yep, I'm back for the second week in a row, if you didn't read my last damn author's notes, then you're probably confused.

I'm posting 2 weeks in a row for MGEMP, because I didn't have chapter 6 done in MBEB and didn't have enough for it to be a full chapt, and I had this one done already, so I'm posting this week here, then next week will be the chapter that covers this and chapter 10 of MGEMP.

Everyone still with me?

Gravy.

And I want to address one point that a few people are worried about. This is first, and foremost, a love story. They're suppose to fall fast and hard. So if it's not your cup of tea, then you don't have to read it. But I'm glad that you're all reading.

But that's the whole point of the story. And I know some of my followers have even agreed with me that 'when you know, you just know'. I've read some stories where they've actually only known each other for 1 day, and they say they're in love. That is a little fast there, but I still read it and liked it. So don't preach to me that my story is way to fast for them to fall in love. They knew each other for a year when they were kids, and met back up 20 years later. Yes, people change over time, but their base instincts and feelings are still there.

I'm not bitching at anyone for their reviews or opinions, but there was one review left a while back that was a full huge paragraph preaching to me that my story was shit. Yes, you are entitled to your opinions. And I'm not going to tell you that you can't tell someone what you think. But don't make people feel like shit for trying to write something. If you don't like my stories, then don't read them, and don't leave a review. I appreciate all the reviews I get, but I don't appreciate the ones that are degrading.

Ok, I'm done there.

This chapter was not beta'd, since Lola is still not back up and running L. So any mistakes are on me. But normally, it's beta'd by LaurieWhitlock. (Come baaaaaaaaaaaccccccccccckkkkk k Loooollllaaaaaaaa!)

And I don't own Twi, SM does.

Ok, read on.

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><p>BPOV<p>

"_Bella?" Izzy asks after we've been playing together on the floor in their playroom for a while. We've been having so much fun together, and I'm already falling in love with these kids._

"_Yes, sweetheart?" I ask as I'm helping her put together a puzzle._

_She asks, as if she was asking for a cookie, but still had a look of pure hope on her little face, "Will you be our mom?"_

_Uhhhhhh…._

Shit. What the hell do I say to her?

I look over at the doorway and see Edward standing there with his mouth gaping.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck…_

"Umm, sweetie, I think that's gonna be up to your daddy. I can't just say that I'll be your mom. I mean you've only known me for a couple of days. You may not like me in a week or a month."

Izzy starts shaking her head at me. "No, I will. Don't you love us?" And now she's pouting.

"Oh don't give me that face. And of course I love you both. I don't know how it's possible to love two people so quickly, but I do. It's not my decision to make, though." I try to tell her, not knowing exactly how else I can tell her that I can't just up and be their mom.

For one thing, Edward and I aren't that serious, yet. And another, I don't think I'm ready for something like that, right now. I need to be in a better state of mind and spirit to be able to even consider being a mother to anyone.

"Iz, honey come here." Edward says as he walks in and sits down. Izzy goes to him and sits in his lap. "Why all of a sudden do you want a mom?"

She ducks her head a little, and I know she feels shy about telling him. Maybe I shouldn't be in here for this.

I start to stand and see Edward give me a questioning look. I just point to the door and mouth 'I'll be outside'.

I walk out the door, but can't help but stop and listen when Izzy starts talking.

"Daddy, I don't want you to be sad anymore. And Bella makes you happy. You smile all the time when she's around. And me and Mason love her. She's nice, she plays with us, she doesn't always treat us like kids. She treats us like a friend. But, daddy, we don't want you to be alone. Namie and PopPop have each other, and Uncle Em and Rosie, and Uncle Jazz and Aunt Alice. Daddy, you need someone to love you."

I'm almost in tears at how much she loves her dad and wants him to be happy. And I have to put my hand over my mouth, because I feel like I might let out a sob. How many kids that age talk like that?

"Aww, sweetie, I didn't mean to make you feel like I'm sad all the time. How could I, when I've got the two of you?" Edward laughs, slightly. "But, baby, this is something Bella and I are going to have to work out, together. It'll take some time. But that doesn't mean that you can't think of her as a mother figure." He looks over to me in the doorway for some sort of confirmation. Which I can't deny to these kids. Of course I'll try to be a mother figure to them, if I can. So I nod. "And I'm sure you can go to her for anything if you want to talk to someone other than me. And you know what? From what I understand, you guys are getting a room in Bella's suite, downstairs. So, I think, if you ask nicely sometime, then Bella might let you stay with her for a night." He says, looking back at me. I just nod again. "Why don't we start out with that, and we'll see where things go. But I don't want you to pressure her, ok? Bella… needs some time to heal."

Izzy gets this worried look on her face. "Is she sick? Daddy, you have to make her better. I don't want her to be sick."

"No, honey, she's not sick. But-" I know he doesn't know how to tell the kids this, so I'm gonna have to intercede.

"I've got some things I need to work through, Izzy." I tell her as I walk back in and sit on the floor with them. "Some things happened a while back, and I need to not feel like they're going to come back and haunt me. You know like ghosts and stuff? Well, these are different kinds of ghosts, for me. Things that are part of my past that aren't nice or friendly, and I've got to get to where I'm not afraid of them anymore. Maybe then, I'll feel like I'm worthy to be a mother figure to you and Mason. And hopefully by then, your daddy and I will still be ok, and we'll talk about where we go from there. But I will be here for you, for whatever you might need. I'm not going anywhere. As soon as I've gotten everything moved in to my place, you'll be able to come see me whenever you want." I kissed her forehead and hugged her to me.

Mason comes over too, and hugs me. I really don't know how it is that I've fallen in love with these two kids, but they are too sweet for words. I had no idea that they felt this way about me either. That's why I was so shocked when Izzy asked if I would be their mom.

When Edward and I walk back to the kitchen together, I'm not sure what to say to him. Thankfully, he saves me from having to start.

"Umm, your phone's been ringing for a while, and I didn't know if it was something you needed to check on. That's why I was coming to find you, to let you know." He tells me as he hands me my phone.

I look at it, and it's all calls from Renee. I take a deep breath in, and let it out, hoping it calms me some.

"Thank you. I know what it's about, and I'll deal with it later." He give me a disapproving look. "Ok. I let it slip earlier that I was moving when my Charlie called, and he didn't exactly take it well. I know he went off and told my mom, and put his own spin on it, and now my mom's trying to get ahold of me to talk me out of it, and guilt me into staying. But I'm not going to give in. Not this time."

"Good. I'm proud of you. They need to let it go and let you do what you want." He said, running his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry about that, in there." He pointed back towards the kids' rooms. "I had no idea they would ask you that, and I didn't mean to assume that you would automatically say yes to… being whatever kind of motherly role I told them you would be. You can say no to it." He started rambling, and I had to stop him.

"Edward, it's ok. I _do_ love those two, and I want to do whatever I can to ease their minds if they ever need anything. But… can we talk about whatever this is between us?" I motioned between the two of us.

He ran his finger through his hair, roughly. I guess he was a little nervous about this talk too.

"B, I want to be with you. I want to help you heal. I want to be able to go out on a date with you. I want to be able to kiss you anytime I want. And I want to be able to tell you that I love you every day." He said, looking me dead in the eyes.

I gasped at what he'd said. My breathing started picking up and I felt like I wanted to run away, and run into his arms all at the same time.

"What?" I breathed out.

"Bella, what ma said before, is completely true. I was telling you when we were little that I loved you. I did back then. And I still do, to this day. It's just grown over the years. And seeing you again, having you here with my family again, just makes me see what we should have always been. Those kids in there should have been yours. We should have stayed, we should have dated, gotten married and had Izzy and Mason, together. But we can't change the past, and I wouldn't change my decision to keep Mason and Izzy, either. They've been my whole world for the past six years. But I can start to make things right. I want you with me. Always. But I'm willing to take things slow. I want you to do this in your own time. I'll wait. I don't care how long. I'll always wait for you." He said as he pulled me into his arms.

I just buried my face into his chest and breathed him in. I don't understand how he can be saying this to me, right now. I… I'm totally just flabbergasted.

"Edward, I'm… I'm not ready to say it back to you. But, I do want you to know that you are the most important person in the world to me, now. You and those kids. But you, in particular, are the one who makes me feel like I'm worth everything in the world. You make me feel alive, and cherished. I want all of those things, too, but it's going to take time. Just, please be patient with me. And I wish, more than anything that those kids were mine, biologically. I wish I was the mother that they needed."

"And you can be. Just by being there. Mason and Izzy adore you, and look up to you. Don't feel like you have to do or be anything, right now. Just do whatever you're comfortable with." He says into my hair.

"Ok." I agree, pulling away slightly.

"I hope you know I mean what I said. But I won't… smother you with it. As long as you know that I do, and you can say it, when and if you're ready, I'm ok." And that helps make me feel a little better.

Knowing that he won't put that pressure, and 'smother' me with it, just eases that stress a little bit.

We eat a small, early dinner together, and it feels nice. Complete. I could see myself doing this on a regular basis.

But I still can't get over the fact that Edward said that he loves me. It's a little insane to me that he feels that way with all the time we've lost, and being back in each others lives for only a couple of days.

On the other hand, though, I feel it. It's there, I just need to get my head and my heart on the same page.

After telling the kids goodbye, with them hugging me for about five minutes, I'm faced with telling Edward goodbye.

And I hate it.

"I don't want to leave." I tell him, almost like a petulant child.

He gives me a sad smile as he walks over to me where I stand near the kitchen doorway.

"I don't want you to, either. But you said so yourself, that you need to get things settled and the sooner that gets done, the sooner you're back here, where you belong. I'll miss you like crazy." He tells me, wrapping his arms around me, over my shoulders, while I wrap mine around his waist.

"Me too. I'll call you when I get there." I leave a kiss over his heart.

I feel him kiss the top of my head, then put a finger under my chin, so I'll look up at him.

He looks me in the eyes, and I guess he's looking for something.

I'm not sure what he finds, but he leans down and slightly leaves a gentle kiss on my lips.

When we both pull back, I know I've got to get out of here before I start crying. Again. The man has to be to most wonderful man in the world. He understands me so completely, without even trying. And I just don't understand how I deserve someone like him. I just hope I can get my head right and be what he needs.

And I _will_ do it. I don't think I could stay away from him, anymore. Not now that I've got him and his family back.

I leave Edward's floor with a final wave as I get in the elevator and he's standing in his doorway.

Once I'm in my own suite, I take a deep breathe and go about getting my stuff together that I need to take back for the week.

When that's all done, I grab the keys that Edward gave me earlier, and am giddy to get to drive my dream car.

I let out another girly squeal when I make my way to the parking garage and see the Jaguar again.

Starting it up, it sounds like an actual jaguar as it purrs.

Gah, I fucking love this car. I may not let Edward have it back.

I get out on the roads of Seattle and start weaving through traffic. I love the handling on this car. Precise, smooth, and fast. And getting out on the open road that heads back to Forks, it's even better.

But as I pass the sign that says 'The town of Forks welcomes you', I just start to feel sad. I really don't want to be here. I'm just going to get through this fucking week, and go home. Back to my family.

I drive up to my apartment building and notice that my truck isn't there.

What the fuck? I know I parked it on the street, and there's no way it got towed… I don't think, anyways. And no one has the spare… wait a god damn minute.

I park the Jaguar and make my way up to my apartment, and notice a note on my door.

Oh this will not be good. I can feel it.

I pull the note off of the door, and read it.

_That stupid motherfucker!_

I knew this was his vindictive nature. It just reeked of it.

_-fucking useless offspring,_

_You will notice that the truck is gone, and your apartment isn't how you left it. I'm tired of all of this complaining that your mother isn't your responsibility. Well guess what little girl; it is. So stop acting like a fucking brat and do what you're suppose to. _

Oh my god, what did he do to my apart-

WHAT THE FUCK!

I unlocked my door to my apartment and it's trashed! That fucking bastard used the spare key to my place and destroyed my stuff! And then used the spare key I had for the truck and took the god damn truck with him.

That self-centered prick!

I can't deal with this right now! I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. Why is this happening? Why can't they just leave me alone so I can do something with my life?

I fumble in my messenger bag trying to find my phone. I ignore all the calls that I know are from Renee, and find Edward's number.

"_Hello?"_ I hear him answer.

"Edward." I whimper into the phone. I just don't even know what to say or do right now. Except cry. Which I've already started doing.

"_Bella! Baby, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Did something happen? Talk to me, babe_." he's frantically trying to figure out what's wrong.

"My dad… he came and trashed my apartment and took my truck. I don't- don't know what to do…" I trail off, hiccupping between my crying.

"_HE DID WHAT?!" _I heard Edward roar into the phone, making me cringe a little.

"Edward, what am I suppose to do? I can't just pick up and leave-" I start to tell him, but he cut me off.

"_Yes the fuck you can. Bella, that man is unstable. Especially if he still has the key to your place. Shit, but you said you still had to train someone before you left. Shit, shit, shit. Ok, let me make a couple of calls, and I want you to get whatever you can salvage together, and put it in the car. Head over to the Inn, and you'll stay there for a few days. I'll come in a couple of days and have a little talk with Charlie. and then you'll come home. I'll talk to mom and speed up the work on your place. Make sure you can get in there maybe a day or two early. I don't want you to worry, B. We'll take care of it." _He tells me, and I can tell he's typing on the computer while I talk to him. He's probably looking up phone numbers.

"Ok. I can't even argue with you right now, about that. I'm not comfortable staying here." I sniffled, as I started looking around for what I could salvage from the mess.

Not all of it was destroyed, but most of it had been thrown around, turned over, thrown on the ground. I can't believe he did this. What kind of person does this to their child?

"_Babe, talk to me. Do you want to come back tonight? Because if you do, just say the word._" Edward's voice breaks me out of my perusal.

"Edward, I can't just blow off my boss. I've gotta finish the week, and I'll be home Friday. I'll steer clear of my dad at all costs-" I begin telling him, but I hear someone outside my door.

"Bella? Are you in there?"

* * *

><p>So, who's at the door? Most of you will probably get it.<p>

Who wants to slap the shit out of Charlie?

Ok, so we'll be back on schedule next week.

See you then!

Laters!


	12. Chapter 12

Hi guys!

Ok, so I think only two people ended up getting it right about who was at the door. Good for you guys.

Oh, and I have some important info.

SO PAY ATTENTION!

Anyways, so I know some people are worried about MBEB being too repetitive, and such, and it is becoming a huge undertaking trying to do this story and then Edward's side of this one. So what I'm thinking of doing is cutting MBEB back some. I had originally said that it would kind of be excerpts of this story in EPOV, but then I started wanting to make sure you all got his reactions to most of what I've written here. And I can't keep doing it that way. So I'm going to go back to my original thought, and make MBEB excerpts from MGEMP, and they may end up being shorter chapters, but at least it'll be something. And I'll make sure you know what parts they'll be from, they just won't be as basely structured as this one. Like I've said before, there will be some definite vital parts of this story that you'll only find in MBEB, but most of it will be later on. Well, not sure when I'm gonna put some of the stuff in yet, but I am definitely already freaking out about 2 major things that are going to happen in this story. Amongst other things that'll come, but you get what I'm saying.

Another reason is that I've barley been able to write this week. My grandpa was rushed to the hospital Monday, I worked 12 hours yesterday, I'm having to get Bella's birthday cake figured out so I can make it in a couple of weeks, and every time I try to sit down and wrote, someone always wants something. Ugh, and I'm not even a mother. Ain't that some shit?

Anywho, sooo, you guys know the drill by now, and if you don't know that SM owns Twilight, then wtf are you reading my story?

Oh and the song in this chapter is 'I wanna hold your hand' but it's from the 'Across the Universe' soundtrack. It's my favorite version of the song, and it's sung by T.V. Caprio, but of course, it's originally done by the Beatles.

See ya at the bottom!

* * *

><p>"<em>Edward, I can't just blow off my boss. I've gotta finish the week, and I'll be home Friday. I'll steer clear of my dad at all costs-" I begin telling him, but I hear someone outside my door.<em>

"_Bella? Are you in there?"_

BPOV

"_Bella, what's going on_?" I hear Edward as I stare at the door.

"Hold on Edward." I walk over to the door, and check who is on the other side.

_Figures._

"Go away, Renee! I have nothing to say!" I yell through the door, not really wanting to open it to talk to her.

"Isabella, you open this damn door and talk to me! What in the world is going on with you?" She yells back, and I just want to laugh.

She really has no clue just how miserable I've been over the years, not being able to do things for myself because no one wants to take responsibility for her. Or the fact that she really doesn't know me, like she thinks she does. All she thinks of me is that I'm still a twelve year old child instead of an almost twenty-six year old woman. And that I'm not able to be responsible for myself.

"You don't get it, do you Renee? This isn't yours or Charlie's decision. You're not going to change my mind. I'll talk to you when you're calm, but not when Charlie has been feeding you his version of what I said. Go home, and I'll talk to you this week. Charlie's already done enough damage here, as it is. I've got shit to clean up. So you can leave. And tell Charlie he can go fuck himself!" I told her, and waited for her to walk away.

"This is insane, Isabella!" I hear her yell, before I hear her feet retreating.

"_I'm proud of you for that, B. You did great handling it." _I hear Edward say as I walk back further into the apartment.

I let out a huge breath that I didn't know I was holding.

"I don't think I could have handled seeing her. Or her trying to ridicule me. I'm already on the verge of tears, and if I'd had to deal with her, I'd be an even bigger mess."

"_No, sweetie, you were strong. You were the bigger person, and told her to calm down before you tried to talk to her. That was the best thing to do. If she's only going to yell at you, there's really no reason to even try to talk to her. Just let her cool off for a couple of days, and maybe she'll start to understand." _

"I hope you're right. I don't want to leave being on completely bad terms with her, but I will if I have to. I'm coming home, regardless of what anyone here says." I tell him, trying to build up my hard exterior. I need to start having that kind of 'shell', I guess you could say, if I'm gonna leave so soon and severe most ties that I have with this place. I will probably come back, but I won't be here every single weekend.

Definitely not. And maybe not even every other weekend. But I will come and see my mom, every so often. I'll still see her more than her other kids do.

"_Alright, finish packing, and let me make some calls. And I'll call you back with the information. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything. And listen to me; don't worry about the car. I want you to hold onto it. It's your dream car, and if your dad was a dick and took your truck, I want you to not have to worry about what you'll drive. Like I said before, I don't drive it as much, and I've usually either got the kids, or I drive the Maserati." _

"Ok. I'll talk to you in a few." I said, then ended the call with him.

I get to work going through my stuff, and I guess there's no better time than now to get an idea of what all I'm taking to Seattle with me.

It's about a half hour later that my phone rings again, and I look to see that it's Edward.

"_Hey B, so, I called your landlord and told him the situation, and took care of everything with him. He's actually kind of a nice guy. I've also got you a room at the Inn. It's under Cullen. And I'll be there in a few days to help get everything sorted. You're sure you want to stay there?"_

"Thank you. And yes, I'm sure." I told him, confidently. "I really appreciate you taking care of that for me. I don't even think I could focus enough to tell my landlord what's going on. Ok, I think I've got what I need for now. I'll text you when I get to the Inn."

"_Ok. Oh the kids said to tell you goodnight, before they went to bed_." I heard the smile in his voice.

God, he was such a sweet man. And a great father. And those kids are just too much, sometimes.

"Well tell them goodnight from me. And goodnight to you, if I don't talk to you later."

"_Will do, sweet B. Try to relax. And I'll see you soon." _He said in a wistful voice.

"See you soon." I said, quietly, and then hang up.

I get the few things that I need for the week and take them down to the car, taking a couple of trips back and forth. And once that's done, I drive over to the Forks Inn and go check in.

I couldn't help but notice the strange look and the way the woman called me 'Mrs. Cullen'.

I'm not gonna lie; it sounded great to me.

Once I'm in my room, I finally fall into the bed, and curl up.

Grabbing my phone, I send a message to Edward, letting him know I'm here.

Just a couple of seconds after I've sent it, my phone starts ringing.

It's him.

"Hey, I didn't know if you were trying to put the kids to sleep, or what. I was just gonna let you have your time with them." I said when I picked up.

"_Don't do that, B. Of course I want to talk to you. And the kids went to bed a while ago. So we're fine. I wanted to see how you're really holding up."_ He says, with some concern laced in his voice.

"I don't know… I just can't… believe my own father is so vindictive that he would go to my apartment and just wreck it, and then take the truck that was given to me for my sixteenth birthday. What kind of person does that to their child, Edward? Your family is into… stuff, and you would never do that to Mason or Izzy. Right?"

"_Definitely not. But Bella, your dad is an asshole. Just try not to have any interaction with him. If he upsets you that much, don't even deal with his shit. You shouldn't have to. Parents should never treat their children the way you've been treated your whole life. You're not a doormat, and you're not a bad person. You deserve to be happy and lead your own life, however you want to."_

And I can't help but break out into tears, from what he's saying and what Charlie has done.

"Why do they have to do this to me, Edward? Why do they have to make me feel like I'm not worthy to even be the mud on the bottom of their shoes? I hate feeling this way." I cry into the phone, and curl up into a ball.

"_Oh baby, please don't cry. You _are_ worth something, you're worth everything in the world. You shouldn't have to put up with _anyone_ making you feel that way. Don't ever let someone make you feel less than you are, baby. You are strong, classy, loving, completely captivating. People should be looking up to you." _

"But Edward, I'm not-" I tried to say, but he stopped me.

"_Damn it Bella, yes you are. Don't you dare put yourself down. It's just been conditioned into your head, all these years, that you aren't. But baby, you are a wonderful woman. My family loves you, just like I do. The only thing that should matter is what the people who love you think. And most importantly, what you think. Now, I have a question, and it's kind of important." _he said all of this, and I had a hard time accepting it, but I would try.

"Ok…" I answered hesitantly.

"_Will you go out with me Saturday night?" _He asked, and I let out a small gasp.

I didn't think he would ask me this soon, but I don't think I could deny him, or the feelings I have growing for him. And I love that he was trying to distract me from the other conversation.

"I would love to." I said, with a huge smile on my face. "I already miss you guys. It was so weird, because when I crossed by the 'Welcome to Forks' sign, all I wanted to do was turn around and go home. This isn't my home anymore. I don't feel like it ever really was. I think, when I was a kid, I just accepted it. But as I got older, there really wasn't anything here that appealed to me. And all the shit with my family added in, I just didn't feel like I belonged here."

"_Sweetheart, that's because you don't. They may be blood related to you, but the way they treat you is fucked up. They treat you like you're an animal or a god damn servant. You deserve your freedom from that."_

I love how special he makes me feel, with just words sometimes.

"…Why haven't you asked about it, yet?" I ask, knowing I may as well get it over with. Especially while I've got the segway into it.

"_What do you mean?_"

"The bird on my back. I know you wanted to ask about it earlier." It's a black bird, with a curly tail. It's feminine, but not overly so.

"_Well, of course I wanted to ask, but I didn't think in front of my parents and kids was the best time. But yes, I am very curious. Is that what it means to you? Freedom?" _He asks, curiously, and I know that he knows what it's for. Well, mostly.

"Yes. It represents the freedom that I want to achieve from my family, from fear, from everything bad in my life. I want to 'fly'. And the writing under it says 'Blackbird Fly'. Like the Beatles song? That really inspired it. It really represents my life and what I want to do for myself. I want to 'take my broken wings and learn to fly', I want to 'fly into the light of the dark black night', and 'waiting for a moment to be free' has been like a goal for me. And putting it on my back was pretty obvious. I guess we kind of are kindred spirits. We both put wings on our backs, in one way or another." I laughed lightly at the last part. Because it really was ironic that he has wings tattooed on his back, and I've got a bird flying tattooed on my back.

"_You will. I want you to call Alice or Rose sometime this week and just talk. Get some of their thoughts, how they felt, how they've dealt. They are probably your best route to go with to work through some of your… 'issues'. I guess. I hate calling it that."_

"That's ok. That's what they are, and I've got to work through them. And I will call them. You're right; they'll be some of the biggest help I'll have to get through this mess in my head." I let out a sigh. "I'm fucking tired, but I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a while."

"_Well, do you want me to sing to you? That always used to calm you down when we were little."_

Oh my god, would he really? I loved hearing his melodic voice when we were young, and now? Holy crap, what would his voice sound like?

"Would you mind?" I asked, timidly. I don't want him to think he has to, but I'm sure as hell not gonna stop him.

"_Of course not. You and the kids are the only ones who get that privilege, though."_ He laughed. _"Now, let's see, what can I sing…oh, I think I got it._

"Yeah, I'll tell you something  
>I think you'll understand<br>When I'll say that something  
>I wanna hold your hand<br>I wanna hold your hand  
>I wanna hold your hand"<p>

Holy shit! I fucking love this song, and even better, this version. From one of my favorite movies. And his voice… just… holy merciful heaven. So velvety, and smooth and fucking melted honey.

"Oh please, say to me  
>You'll let me be your man<br>And please, say to me  
>You'll let me hold your hand<br>Now let me hold your hand  
>I wanna hold your hand<p>

And when I touch you I feel happy  
>Inside<br>It's such a feeling that my love  
>I can't hide<br>I can't hide  
>I can't hide<p>

Yeah, you, you've got that something  
>I think you'll understand<br>When I'll feel that something  
>I wanna hold your hand<br>I wanna hold your hand  
>I wanna hold your hand<p>

I wanna hold your hand"

I sniffled into the phone. It was so perfect for the moment, where we were as a couple, and being this far apart from each other, right now. He's telling me how he feels, and I can't even fucking tell him, yet.

"I love that version. It's one of my favorite movies." I told him, quietly.

"'_Across the Universe' is an amazing movie. We'll have to watch it together sometime."_

I really wish I could kiss him right now. I really wish I could tell him I love him with my whole heart, but I can't just yet. I want to make sure I'm ready, first.

"Thank you so much for that. You don't know how much it means to me, Edward."

"_B, don't cry. I can hear it in your voice."_ He said, worry coming through in his own voice.

"I can't help it. They're happy tears. You really know how to make me feel better. You always have. You know me so well without even having to try. Why can't all guys be like you?" I laughed a little at that. Because really, I would compare all men to Edward Cullen.

He laughed too, saying, "_I can't help it. I guess I've just always been attuned to you. Try to get some sleep, baby. Call me tomorrow."_

"I will. Bye."

After hanging up with him, I'm so exhausted, so I strip out of my clothes and put on the t-shirt of Edward's that I brought back with me. I wanted something of his since I'd be so far away. It'd help make me feel somewhat safer.

It makes all the sense in the world to me. I didn't say it would for everyone else.

The next couple of days are pretty uneventful. Well, if you don't count the bitching I got from Jessica about Friday night.

I just shrug it off. She can get over it. She's not my responsibility for much longer, and Mike can put up with her then.

I didn't realize it, but since the Cullen's have been back in my life, I've adopted a, kind of, 'whatever' attitude. And it's not focused on everything, it's just the things like Jessica, and small things that have nothing to do with me. I'm not going to try to dwell on shit that I don't need to. I've got enough to focus on, and I don't need to add other people's drama to it.

So I'm not going to.

Edward and I talked everyday. Even if it was only for a little while. I even talked to Izzy and Mason a few times. I swear those kids are just like their daddy. Compassionate, sweet, always the sweet talkers.

I also talked to Alice a couple of times. She told me a few of the things that helped her get to where she is, now.

She told me that she, basically walked away and never turned back. That was the main thing that she did, but considering that her parents were never there and essentially tossed her aside like trash, it was easier for her to do that. It'll be a little harder for me to do. But getting out of Forks is a start.

She also told me that a new look made her have more confidence in herself. Not necessarily a completely different look, but updating the current look. Kind of like a new start.

Alice said that she hated her longer hair, before. So she went with the shorter look. She changes it up every year, but always keeps it in some form of a short cut.

Then she said she started wearing things that made her feel confident. Not just frilly, girly stuff. She still stuck with some jeans, but added fashionable yet comfortable stuff to go with them. She wanted to be true to herself, and not what everyone else thought she should be, or wear.

That was part of what was driving her clothing line. Things that you could wear so you can be fashionable, yet comfortable, and things that define who you are.

The other part she said drove the line, was what happened to Rosalie.

Rosalie wanted to feel safe and comfortable again after she was attacked. I still haven't been told everything about what happened to her, but I've been assured that she will tell me.

Anyways, she wanted to feel comfortable in her own skin again, and Alice made a point to work on pieces that were cute, fun and sexy, but still covered enough so Rosalie didn't feel exposed and uncomfortable.

They both wanted a line of clothes that were age appropriate, but wasn't saying to the world, 'hey, I'm a slut, look at me.'. Instead, they wanted something that said, 'hey, I'm classy, but still sexy as hell'.

Alice also said that she and Rosalie took boxing classes together. She said it helped release some aggression and fear. It also made them feel more empowered.

Which is what I need.

Picking her brain has been a really huge help. I feel like I've got some sort of starting point to work on.

Wednesday night at the bar, Jessica is really starting to get on my last god damn nerve.

It seems like it's been days for her since she's gotten laid, because she's acting like a fucking dog in heat. It doesn't matter the guy.

"Jessica, really, could you tone it down, just a little? You're gonna end up in the wrong guy's company one night, and what are you gonna do then?" I asked her, worriedly, hoping she'll take a good look at what she's doing.

"Oh get over yourself. Not everyone is as virtuous as you are. Some people like their sexual nature, and want to experience all the joy it brings. You should try it sometime." She patted me on the back, mockingly.

_I give up._

This is one of those 'whatever' moments, that there's nothing I can really do to change her mind, and she's not gonna listen, so I'm not going to worry about it. She's making her damn choice. I just hope she can live with it, one day.

A few moments later, I'm delivering a few beers to some guys at the back of the bar, when I feel it.

That tingle that I get when I know he's close by.

I turn around and scan the bar, looking for him.

And I see him as he's walking over to the bar.

_Damn, I missed him so much._

But now I see that Jessica has zeroed in on him, and she is salivating.

_Oh fuck no, bitch!_

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><p>CAT FIGHT! Lol<p>

So, like, don't like, in between?

Stay with me, peeps, I've got some really, really, really awesome stuff in store. Not sure how soon, but I'm hoping it'll be coming up in a couple chapters where things start getting very interesting.

So until next week, when I'll have… something over on MBEB,

Laters!


	13. Chapter 13

Hey guys!

Ohmygod, can I just say… *singing* Have I told you lately, that I love youuuu? Lol seriously, I freaking love you guys, especially the ones of you that took to reading both sides of this story. The reviews from the last chapter of MGEMP were so effing awesome! I know I didn't get a chance to respond to everyone, but you really, really make my day when I get reviews like that and I've said it before, it really does make me strive to write more and write better.

I love each and every one of you for your amazing support

I know I'm a little late today getting this to y'all, but I've been baking, and decorating a birthday cake and cupcakes for Bella's Birthday party tomorrow, so I'm just now getting to posting this.

As usual, Lola is the beta, and SM is the twi owner.

Who else is freaking ready for BD part2? I'm soo fucking psyched! Only 2 more months… aw fuck, 2 months is gonna drag on like a damn year. Get here already!

Alrighty, read on!

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><p>BPOV<p>

I am about to cut a bitch right now!

Seriously, Jessica is about to become acquainted with my fist if she doesn't stop ogling my man.

But I can't do much yet, because I'm stuck taking a table's order right now.

I watch out of the corner of my eye as he walks up to the bar, and he's looking around, but I don't think he sees me yet.

Jessica's waiting for him before he even takes a seat on a stool. And I can tell she's turning it on.

_She'd make a great hooker on the streets of Seattle…_

I mentally face palmed myself. I don't really know why I thought that, but it just seems to fit, a little too well for her. She could be stuck up, snobby, and she can turn that button from bored and looking for it, to finding it and being all out sexual.

It's really disgusting to see. Especially on her.

I hurriedly get the drink orders for the table I'm at, and head back to the bar as quick as I can.

"Hey, Gina, can you finish this order for me and watch the bar? I'm gonna take my break." I ask one of the other girls that works at the bar.

"Sure thing. Take your time." She says, and gets to work on the drinks.

I walk towards the end of the bar where Edward is, and he finally sees me.

And his face just lights up.

I've never seen that coming from anyone before. So I know that he really does care about me.

And I didn't realize just how much I missed him until now.

As I make my way to his side, I can hear Jessica's 'sexy' voice, but I call it 'the voice of hell', because that's really where you feel like you are when she talks like this.

"You really should come back to my place so we can have some fun…" She _tries_ to sound seductive. It's not working.

"Jess, if Edward wants to go and get a disease, I'm sure he'd rather brush his teeth with Typhoid Mary's straight razor." I tell her, then turn towards a smiling Edward. "You're here." I whisper to him.

"I'm here. I missed you so damn much." He said, and leaned his forehead against mine.

It was just for a moment and he wasn't pushing me, but I loved it. He was going slow, and that's what I'd asked for.

"Gah, way to cock-block, Isabella." Jessica sneered under her breath.

"Jessica, the next time you try to get with someone else's boyfriend, they might not restrain themselves from punching you in your skanky mouth like I am." I leveled her with a glare.

"Puh-leaze! Like this guy would ever go for some prude like you? He needs a real woman that can satisfy him. Not someone that will run away at the sight of his beautiful cock." She fucking smirked at me.

And then I did have a moment of panic. She was somewhat right. I probably would run at the sight of… his manhood. But I'm still a ways away from that step, so maybe I can work up to it…maybe.

"Yeah, well she's the only one that's ever going to see it, as far as I'm concerned. So take that disease ridden pussy somewhere else. I sure as fuck don't have any use for it." Edward said, glaring at her.

Wow. I'd never heard him talk like that. And even though he was talking about Jessica, which I could probably vomit about thinking about her…skank-piece, I still found that dirty words and a fiery attitude from Edward, was extremely hot.

Jessica is gaping at the two of us like we're crazy. It would be different if it weren't a very publicly known fact of how many men she sleeps with, but I end up laughing.

I can't help it. She really thinks that her sleeping around like she does, and getting diseases, is normal. And that we're the crazy ones.

I try to stifle my laughs by burying my face in Edward's shoulder, but it only helps a little.

"Oh whatever, Bella. This guy will drop you in a fucking week. You're too much of a prude for anyone to keep around. That's why Mike fired your ass." She sneered, like she actually had me on something.

"Bite me. I quit because I'm moving to Seattle with family. I don't want to stay stuck in this town with people like you, who are rude, bitchy, and self-centered. I'm doing something for me, and not for everyone else, for a change. So excuse me for wanting to make my life better." I bit back, kind of harshly. But I'm hoping that she'll fucking drop this shit, and leave us alone.

"Whatever. I'm gonna laugh my ass off when you come crawling back into town when he gets tired of you." She slightly seethed, then turned and high-tailed it back behind the bar.

"Wow, what a bitch. I can see why you would want to leave this place behind with people like that around you." Edward leaned in, resting his head on the side of my head.

"Yeah, she wasn't much better in high school. It's well known that she's always been the town slut, even back then. I'm not sure how she sees that as a good thing, though." I tell him, still keeping an eye on Jessica.

I just know she's going to try to come back over and either try to hit me, or try to feel Edward up, despite the fact that he's already dismissed her once.

I wouldn't put it past her to try to hit me, though. She's been known to get in cat-fights too.

"Hey," Edward says, looking up at me, "Are you off soon? I want to go get some food. I had to take care of some stuff and drop the kids off at mom and dad's before I left. I'm starving."

I laughed a little. "Of course. Mike's been really flexible this week, so I'm sure I can get out a little early. But the only place open, is the diner. And since I'm not staying at my apartment, I can't cook. Unless you want to stay there while you're here."

He looked slightly thoughtful for a moment.

I wasn't sure if he was ok going back over there with me and staying there or not. I, personally didn't want to, but eating at the diner and fast food and bagels only go so far. I just wanted to go home to Seattle where I didn't have to worry about this shit.

"I can see that you're not too keen on going back there, so I guess the diner, it is." He smiled, then leaned in and kissed me.

It had only been a couple of times, but I missed his lips too.

"Thank you. It should start to slow down a little in here in the next half hour. So I can duck out then. Let me get back to work. It won't take long." I kissed his cheek then went back behind the bar to take some orders.

Once things started to slow, I went to the back to tell Mike I was leaving, and he was fine with that.

He's really been understanding this week, which I wasn't expecting. I figured Jessica would have played the victim and made it seem like I was at fault. But I guess he knew what actually happened and didn't listen to her shit.

As I was walking back to the main bar area, I felt someone slam me into the wall, face first.

_That fucking hurt._

"You really think I'm gonna let you get off that easy? Really Bella, it's like you don't know me at all." Jessica's voice came out as a sneer from behind me. "That guy will toss you when you don't give it to him, and then where will you be? All alone in the big city? Don't worry, I'll come and keep him company. He deserves a good fucking. You don't deserve a guy that hot. You're too much of a baby to go after anything. You're weak and that's all you'll ever be. I hope you're ready for disappointment."

My blood was boiling, but my brain was also going over what she said, and her words started pulling me down.

_I am weak. I don't deserve him. _

_No! I'm not weak! Edward has faith in me. So does his family. I have to fight for what I want. I'm not going to let her win._

I noticed that Jessica had used her right hand to grab my left wrist. Which wasn't smart of her. This left us wrist to hand.

So I grabbed her wrist, holding her still, then slammed my head backwards towards hers, hoping I smashed her nose.

And by the sounds of it, I did.

I heard the crunch of a bone, and then Jessica screeching.

I then I swung my leg around behind me, and tripped her, so she landed on her ass.

"You bitch! You just broke my nose! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

I crouched down over her so she could hear me.

"YOU are my problem, Jessica. You're not going to intimidate me anymore. I'm sick of everyone bullying me around and treating me like their personal doormat. So fuck you, and fuck them. I'm not going to stick around this town with people that think they can tell me what to do, and that I'm nothing. Well guess what. I AM something. That man out there loves me. He knows how to treat a woman. He loves his kids more than anything in the world. He's not looking for a quick fuck, like you seem to always be looking for. And I'm going to tell you again, you're gonna end up in the wrong guy's bed one night, and god only knows what will happen to you. I pity you. And I hope someone can intervene before you end up in a casket. Grow up, Jess." I told her, then got up and walked back to the bar.

I probably should have gone to the bathroom to check on where my face hit the wall, but I didn't think it would be that bad…

Until I got back to Edward and he gently grabbed my chin to examine it.

"Ow."

I guess I was already bruising.

"Bella, what in the fuck happened to you, baby?" He asked, a little panicked.

"I'm fine. I had a little run in with Jessica in the hallway, but she's on her ass with a broken nose, right now. Looks like she's gonna need another nose job." I told him, proudly.

He just stared at me for a moment before he crashed his lips to mine.

I was in shock for a split second before I felt his tongue swipe across my bottom lip, and that's all it took for me to let him in, while I grabbed a handful of his hair and kissed him back.

With gusto.

When he pulled back, he looked in my eyes and said, "I couldn't be more proud of you, Beautiful."

I just smiled widely at him. I was proud of myself, too. I've never really stood up for myself like that, and it felt good.

I saw Mike walk up to the bar and he caught sight of my jaw, and sighed.

"Bella, don't worry about tomorrow night. I'll handle Jess. You had some days piled up, so go ahead and take them. You'll get paid for it. We'll miss you around here. You were a great bar tender." Mike said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mike. For everything. You've been great. I'll see you around." I told him, and grabbed Edward's hand and walked out to the parking lot.

I got into my car, and noticed that Edward had parked his Volvo beside it.

"I thought you only drove that when you had the kids?" I asked as we parked at the diner.

"Yeah, well, I figured since you said you didn't have that much stuff to move, and whatever else that's destroyed, or you don't want, we can get rid of. And whatever we're taking back can probably fit in the Volvo. If not, then we can always get a truck here. We can look at everything tomorrow and see what we need to do." He said, as he put an arm around me and walked me into the diner.

I sat down in the booth near the window, and Edward slid in beside me.

Which made me smile.

"So, anything from your mom or dad, yet?" He asked me after we ordered our food.

"No, thank god. I was freaked out the other day about what he did, but now I'm just really pissed off. He's trying to scare me into staying, but it's not gonna work. I refuse to stay here any longer than I have to, and I'm not gonna let him or Renee bully me into it."

He hugged me to his side and kissed my temple. "Good. I'm glad you're standing up for yourself. I'm seeing a little difference in you, already." He said, then we saw the waitress come over and bring us our food. "So, since you ended up getting tomorrow night off, what's your plan?"

I actually wasn't sure, now that I thought about it. I know I need to go talk to my mom, and tell her what's going on. And Edward and I need to go back over to my apartment and sort through stuff, and get things packed. I need to sign whatever papers with my landlord.

"I think that, maybe we can get most everything done tomorrow, during the day. And that we could possibly head back to Seattle tomorrow night, or Friday morning. I need to talk to my mom, and finish up at the apartment, so that all should be pretty easy to get done, I think. I didn't have too much at my apartment in the first place, so it should be no problem to go through. Does that sound ok?"

"Sounds great. Izzy and Mason were excited that I was coming to see you and bring you back. You know those kids love you to death, right?" He asked with a damn smirk.

I laughed and nudged him with my shoulder. "I love those kids, too. I love your whole family. They make me feel welcome, happy, wanted and calm. I feel included in the family."

"What about me? I don't get any love?" He asked with a pout, and held up a french fry to me.

I just smiled and opened my mouth and took the fry from him. "Of course, but right now, I can only tell you it's as my very best friend, and I'm working to it being as my other half. Because that's how I feel with you, sometimes. Like I feel whole with you. And sometimes I'm so happy with you that I feel like I'm gonna explode. I feel safe, loved, and completely blissful. Once I got passed all of the… family stuff, and telling you everything, I still felt like I could live with all of it. And that I could get passed all of my issues and become the person I want to be. I want to _feel_ worthy of you, and Mason and Izzy. Regardless of you telling me that I am. I need to feel it in my head and in my heart. But I think I'm getting there. Every time I talk to you, or Alice, or the kids, I feel like I'm getting… somewhat stronger. Like I'm building myself up, instead of feeling like shit. And I like it. It makes me feel like I'm slowly getting both my head and heart on the same page. But trust me, you'll be the first to know when I do." I smiled at him widely.

We finish eating our food in the most comfortable companionship. We're able to talk with such ease with each other and it just reaffirms the fact that Edward and I are great together. It may take a while to understand that we're 'meant to be together', but those feelings seem foreign to me after the way I've been treated for so long.

Edward and his family are breaking that mold for me, a little more every day.

As we were walking back out to our cars, we saw a man with russet colored skin walking down the sidewalk. He had some bruises on his face and seemed to be limping a little bit.

I looked at him a little closer and noticed that I did recognize him.

It was Seth.

The guy I lost my virginity to, and shot his fucking mouth off to Jacob Black.

Asshole.

I felt Edward tense and pull me behind him as we got closer to Seth.

"Keep fucking walking, pup. We let you off easy the other night." Edward snarled at Seth.

_Wait, when did Edward and Seth get into it?_

"Fuck you, Cullen. You just watch your shit. You don't get to just come into a new city and think you're top dog. And don't think you'll be able to topple the top dog, either. You're gonna have the biggest fucking fight on your hands, if you even _think_ you could try." Seth said, getting in Edward's face, and I flinched, taking a step back.

Edward nudged Seth with his shoulder. "Back the fuck off me. You wanna get into something in public? Fine, but I'm not getting her involved in this shit. And you can tell your _boss_, that he has the biggest shit storm coming his way. He hurt someone I love, and he's not gonna get away with it." Edward hissed at Seth.

"I'll be _sure_ to give him your message." Seth sneered and walked away, keeping an eye on Edward and me.

Edward and I watched as Seth got into a car and drove off.

We were both quiet as we walked the rest of the way to our cars, and then made our way to the Inn.

Neither of us really said anything until we were in my room and sitting on the sofa that sat near the window.

"Edward, why is he here? And what happened the other night? I'm not understanding what you both were talking about. Will you please tell me what the hell is going on?" I asked in a quiet voice, playing with the sleeve of hem of my button up shirt.

He blew out a breath and told me, "Bella, Seth works for another crime family. I haven't told you this yet, because I didn't want to overwhelm you, even more than you were this weekend, but… Jacob Black is second in command of the Black crime family. And they run from the beaches in La Push to Seattle…"

_Oh dear god… what the fuck have I gotten myself in the middle of?_

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><p>Anybody proud of Bella?<p>

Ok, we'll see how MBEB is coming for next week and I may or may not post for that side just yet. I might have enough for something smallish. I am a little behind in my writing because of this party for Bella, but I'm hoping I'll be back on track soon.

So, if I happen to have something next week, I'll see you all then but if not, then in 2 weeks here.

Laters!


	14. Chapter 14

Hello all my lovelies! I got lucky and got this finished last night so I could get it to Lola before my usual posting tome on Fridays. Lol (And if you tell, Lola, I will cut you! ;p)

Anywho, you guys seriously rock my world when you send me reviews like you've been doing. I'm so pumped to write this stuff, even when I don't have time to sit down to do it.

Some of you may not like that I'm making Charlie into an asshole, but that's just the character. I love Charlie in the books and movie (Hello Billy Burke!), but that's just how I'm writing him. And Renee.

Alrighty, sooo, SM owns twilight, I sadly don't.

And Lola is the beta, if you didn't know by now, you deserve to be punched. Just kidding:)

Read on!

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><p>BPOV<p>

Edward sat down and explained more about the Black family and their… activities, to me. How they run everything from drugs to guns, and women to money, from Seattle, to Forks, and La Push that is just up the road. And many of the same things the Cullens do, but the Blacks seem to not care if they or someone that works for them gets caught. There's always someone there to take the fall.

Edward said that they have fall guys too, but they only use them when there is a huge investigation, or someone has to go on the run, or there's no other option.

Basically, he said they haven't had to use them very much. They try to keep out of the spotlight of law enforcement.

I had no clue that all this time, there was a crime family so close to where I grew up. I mean this is a small town. You wouldn't think that a mafia family would choose a town, or area that spans so far, as their place of 'business'. But I guess it would make sense for them. The beaches of La Push wouldn't be monitored. It's an Indian reservation, so it's kept private. No one would even think to consider that there was a crime family running drugs, guns, and god only knows what else out of there.

"Bella, I don't want you to ever be alone when any of these guys are around. Especially now that Seth has seen you with me, Black will use you to get to me, or just to fuck around with your head. He's already pissed that I've 'come into his city and try to take it over'. So he's going to take any chance he can to get back at us. And since you are who you are, and you're linked to me again, then that is like a neon sign just asking him to take advantage of it. I just want you to be prepared and keep your eyes peeled. This is the downfall to being involved with this family, baby. And I'm so incredibly sorry that you have to be in the middle of any of it. But I am, essentially, a selfish bastard and I can't lose you again. But I'll protect you. You and Mason and Izzy are my priority, and I will protect all of you. I promise." He said, as he pulled me into his arms and sat me on his lap.

I wrapped my own arms around him, and thought about all of this.

And it scared me.

But… it also made me think of something.

"Edward, I want you to teach me how to shoot." I said, kind of lowly.

Edward pulled back and looked at me questioningly.

"Bella… are you sure? That's a really big leap for you, and I'm not sure you're really ready for that, yet. Are you?"

"I want to be able to protect myself, protect Mason and Izzy. If you're not around us when something happens, then I need to at least be able to know that I have a chance at getting out of whatever situations were in, alive. I think it'll give me a little more confidence in myself, also. This is something I need, Edward. I don't want to feel helpless." I whispered the last part.

He pulled my face towards his and looked at me.

"Sweetheart, if you're sure, then I'll do whatever you want. I just don't want you to rush into it if you're not totally ready."

I just raised an eyebrow at him. "Really Edward, I'm moving to Seattle to live in your hotel with you two floors up, your brother is above me, and your family is the mob. I think we're way past rushing. But this will be good for me. Alice even told me that she has a gun and goes to the shooting range. So I don't know why I shouldn't if I'm gonna be a part of this family."

"You're right. Alice and Rose both have guns and are pretty good at shooting. Ma even has one." He sighed and rubbed his neck. "Ok, we'll work on getting you a gun and start teaching you how to shoot when we get back to Seattle. I also want to ask you if you'd be ok with having a chip on you, in the event that someone is stupid enough to take you or something happens. It'd be easier to find you if we had to. It's one of the best safety measures that we have. I've got one in my watch, so does dad and Jasper, even Emmett. Ma, Alice and Ro have pieces of jewelry that have one in it. The kids have one, too. Izzy always wears a little heart shaped necklace, and Mason has one in the belt that he always wears. He actually has two, but that's beside the point. Everyone in this family is chipped in case of an emergency." He gave me a hopeful look, mixed with a bit of worry.

I knew he was being cautious with my safety and I wanted to take whatever precautions they had.

"Ok. Yeah, I'll wear one. It'll help me feel like one of you is always around the corner, protecting me."

"Thank you." He kissed my cheek, but then I turned and kissed him on his lips.

He was a little shocked, but responded, nonetheless. He licked my bottom lip and I let him in. I couldn't stop the small moan that came from my lips at how his mouth felt against mine.

After a few minutes of making out with him, I pulled back and leaned my forehead against his.

"I should be thanking you. You're so wonderful and protective of me, and I can't tell you what that means to me. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm so grateful to have you back in my life."

We finally got into bed, and laid there just talking for a long time. But eventually, we fell asleep with him wrapped around me. And I'd never felt safer.

The next day, we both got up and made our way over to my apartment to get things squared away.

Walking into the apartment, I'm reminded that I really don't have anything holding me here. I don't like my apartment; it's cramped and there's just nothing that pulls you in. It's just the basic, minimum you could get on a budget. It's fine for just one person, who wants solitude, but I want to move on and find where I'm suppose to be in life.

And it's not here.

Edward and I work through the stuff in my apartment, throwing things away that I don't need or I'm going to donate, and box up the stuff that I want to keep. Mostly things that are from my childhood that were the only good things that I remember. Like the bear my aunt made for me that was in a straw hat and a pretty blue dress. She lived in Georgia for a long time, so the bear looks like the epitome of a 'southern belle'. Some of my favorite books that I kept from when I was little make it in the box too. Along with some of the pictures, stuffed animals, etc. Then there are the things like my high school diploma and senior things that I wanted to keep, regardless of what happened to me that year. It gave me a sense of accomplishment.

I find that I've only got a couple dozen boxes of things that I'm going to take back with me. It's more than I thought I would have, since Charlie's destruction. But I'm glad I was able to salvage what I wanted to take home.

Edward and I loaded up the boxes into the Volvo, and a few into the Jaguar. Then we head inside to my landlord's office so we can sign the papers and such.

Edward is right there with me the whole time. Making sure I'm ok with everything.

I see him hand Mr. Davis a check, and raise an eyebrow at him.

"What? I told you I would take care of everything. This is part of it. I don't want you worrying about any of it." He said in a low voice.

I just kept my mouth shut. I hated that he had to do this, but he insisted.

Once all of that was taken care of, we went back to the diner and ate a late lunch.

Then it was time to go and face my mother.

And possibly Charlie…

I asked Edward to come with me, just in case I needed him for support, or if Charlie was there and I needed a getaway.

So we took my car… still weird calling it mine, but Edward told me not to argue with him on it. It was my dream car, and he didn't drive it that much. Therefore, it became mine, especially when Charlie decided to take my truck.

Asshole.

We pulled into the driveway of my parents two story house. It was modest for a four bedroom house. It was almost a grayish blue color with white shutters and a decent sized front porch.

I walked up the front stairs, with Edward right behind me, holding on to my hand.

I wasn't sure what to do, but I figured I'd just walk in like every other time I come here.

I gave a slight knock to the door as I opened it and called out, "Mom? You here?"

"Isabella?" I heard her from the living room, which is her usual spot in the house.

I turned to Edward before I moved forward. "Stay here for a few minutes. I don't know how… presentable she is right now."

He gave me a look for a moment, but nodded and kissed my hand and let me go.

I walked into the living room and saw my mom sitting in her recliner.

"Hey, mom. Um, I brought someone with me. But I wanted to talk to you." I walked over and sat on the sofa across from her. "I don't know what all Charlie has told you about me leaving, but I'd rather you heard it from me."

"Isabella, I don't understand why you have to move all the way to Seattle. All of my kids are leaving me. What if I need something and no one's here?" Great, now she's getting defensive.

"Mom, you have Charlie here, and I've told you, I don't know how many times, to get one of those alert buttons in case you have a fall. But do you ever listen to what Char, Garrett or I say? No. But I'm not going to be responsible for you for the rest of my life. I want to move on, do something for myself for once. Find out what I want to do with my life. I'm almost twenty-six; I need to be my own person. What the hell am I suppose to do if I stay here? Keep working for Mike? Rush over here when you can't reach or drop something, or cook your dinner every night? That's why you have a husband. He needs to take his head out of his ass and take responsibility that he vowed to take when he married you. I can't keep doing it. And it's not like I'm not gonna come back. I'll be here every few weeks to see you, but I can't keep doing what I've been doing."

"Do you even have somewhere to work in Seattle? A place to stay? Have you really thought this out? You could be living next to psychopaths and criminals for all you know." My eyes shifted to Edward in the hallway, who was watching and started to laugh under his breath.

I just narrowed my eyes at him.

Jerk.

"Look, I've got a place, and a job lined up. There's a new bar opening up there, and the owner is giving me a job there. It's suppose to be a really huge place and very popular. I'm covered. You don't have to worry about it."

"This is ridiculous, Isabella. I don't like it." She tried to argue, and I knew she was going to start going back to the guilt trip next.

"Well you don't have to like it. I'm moving, and that's it." I tell her, confidently and trying to get my point across to her. I'm not backing down on this.

"Who's this, Bella? Your pimp that you're moving to Seattle for to be a hooker?" Charlie asked as he walked around the corner into the living room, past Edward.

But as soon as Charlie said that, Edward had Charlie pinned to the wall with his arm pressed against his neck.

"You ever fucking talk about her like that again, and you'll won't even live to regret it, cuz I will end you where you stand. You've put her through enough emotional abuse, and I'll be damned if you're gonna put her through anymore. You're done fucking with her life." Edward snarled in Charlie's face, putting pressure on his neck.

"You little prick, who do you think you are coming in my house and talking to me like that?" Charlie gritted out.

I was a little shocked he could actually talk.

"Edward Cullen is who I am." I saw Charlie's eyes widen a little. "Yeah, so you either remember me from when Bella was six, or you know who I'm said to be. Either way, Bella is special to me, and I'm not gonna let a piece of shit like you bring her down."

"Bella, are you crazy? You can't move to Seattle and be around someone like that. You're gonna get yourself killed." Renee hissed at me.

"You know what? I couldn't give a rat's ass what people say they are. They treat me better than anyone else in the past twenty-six years of my life has. They make me feel like I matter and that I'm a part of their family. All I've ever felt like here is a burden and unwanted. So excuse me for wanting to feel at least a little bit accepted by the people I'm surrounded by." I stood up and made my way over to where Edward and Charlie were. "Edward, come on, let's go home. I don't want to stay here anymore."

Edward looked over at me and just nodded. He let go of Charlie's neck and ushered me out the front door.

I heard Charlie spluttering and coughing behind us as we left, but I couldn't care. He brought that on himself.

As Edward drove us back to the Inn, I was quiet. I couldn't believe that Charlie had said that. And it kept playing in my mind.

I guess I wasn't paying close attention to where we were because I jumped when Edward opened my door and crouched down in front of me.

He reached up and wiped under my eyes, and I didn't even realize I was crying.

He just gave me an understanding look while he waited for me to speak.

"Why would he say that, Edward? Does he really think that little of me? Does everyone in my family think that little of me?" I asked, quietly, not able to really speak much louder.

"B, he's just a heartless asshole. He doesn't care about your feelings, or your well-being. Don't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he's gotten in your head. Don't let him get in there. You're strong, baby. Just focus on moving forward. We're going home, and I know Mason and Izzy are dying to see you. Maybe we can surprise them by being back a day early." And he knows how to distract me, like always.

"Sounds great. Thank you." I lean forward and kiss his lips.

"What are you thanking me for?" He asks with a slight smile on his face.

"For being you. Every time you know exactly how to help me, and I can't even begin to think how you do it. You're such a wonderful man, Edward Cullen. And I'm falling for you a little more every minute."

His smile lit up his whole face and he kissed me again. "Let's go home, sweetheart."

"That is the best idea I've heard all week." I smiled up at him and got out of the car to get into the driver seat.

"Let's drop your car off at the hotel and get these boxes into your place, then we'll go to my parents'."

I nodded and followed him out of Forks and back to Seattle.

We made it back to the hotel and unloaded the boxes pretty quickly.

I looked around my suite when we got in there, and I was blown away. It was so perfect. And the black and white and grey really didn't make it look dark. It was a subtle balance. My library room was so stunning. The purple and the lights reflecting off of the silver paint were just so nice and elegant. And the kids' room was just too cute. I absolutely loved the blue in there and it was very light and airy.

The master bedroom matched the main living area, but was also made my own, just like I asked Esme to do. The purple comforter was the perfect pop of color. I can't wait to start living in this place.

Edward and I made our way back to the garage and into Edward's Volvo.

"So I take it you like the suite?" he asked as we got on the road to his parents' place.

"I absolutely love it. It's so perfect, and exactly what I wanted. I can't believe Esme got it all done, and in such a short time. Remind me to make her dinner one night this week."

He laughed and continued on down the road, holding my hand on the console.

Once we park in the Cullen driveway, we get out and quietly make our way up the front steps, and in the door.

We can hear the kids squealing and laughing from down the hallway, so we make our way towards the sound.

When we turn into the living room, I freeze at the sight of the two people standing there.

"Hey Eddie! Did ya miss me?"

* * *

><p>Dun dun duunnn!<p>

Alright, let me hear who you think it is! (Lola, I will seriously cut you if you say it *narrows eyes*)

Again, we'll see how the next chapter of MBEB goes, and I may have a post next week, I may not. It won't be much from the other side of this chapter. So it may wait.

Until next time, whenever I post again,

Laters!


	15. Chapter 15

HI! Ok, you guys either know me too well, or I'm just predictable…. Don't answer that. (especially you, Lola) most of you got it right! I was a little surprised at how many thought it was Irina and Tanya together. But we will hear from those two later on…. Hehehehehehehe *rubs hands together evilly*

Omg, I just got 2 authors that I'm following stories of, that are reading mine, this week. SWEET! It makes me feel a little accomplished when authors of stories I read and love are reading my crazy shit, ya know? Love you guys!

Ok, I need to make a little note, but I want everyone to PAY ATTENTION! So, I know most, if not all of you read other mobward stories. I know I do, and that's why I'm putting this in here now, which I should have done from the get-go since it's been part of my notes from before I started writing this story. A couple of other mob stories have referenced going to Charleston, SC, with BxE. I know of at least 2 stories like that. I've been PLANNING on doing the same thing with this story when I started writing it, but then these other 2 stories that I'm reading popped up with this trip to Charleston in them, and I'm like 'well fuck, there goes my idea, out the fucking window.' Here's the thing; I don't want to copy another story, and I try not to make my story like other stories out there, although it's hard to read every single story and keep what I write where its nothing like anything else. So I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to continue with my idea, or if I'm going to shift it. I live in South Carolina, like an hour and a half away from Charleston. And it pains me that I may not be able to use it in my story, even though I made reference in another story of mine, to it. I love, love, love Charleston. It's so historic and lively. As soon as you drive into Charleston, you know there is a long story behind it's history, just by looking at it. So many places to go to there, and all of it makes you see things in a different light. My sister in law grew up there, we used to vacation there when I was growing up, and I'm a little sad because I know someone is gonna pop up and say; 'hey, you're copying someone else's story. I'm gonna report you.' So I may just avoid that, and shift my idea to a nearby city. Maybe Edisto, or Isle of Palms. Both of which are beautiful and still right by Charleston.

Ok, my rant is over.

Another thing that you should PAY ATTENTION to, there is a rape content warning in this chapter. I'm warning you now. I've got them marked with (*). It is a little violent, and not pleasant, but that's just how it was written. Sorry if it upsets you. You also might need a tissue for it.

Alrighty, lets seeeeeee…. Oh, the usual, Lola(LaurieWhitlock) is my beta, and had a birfday this week. Happy Bday Lola! (your box SHOULD be there this week. Or I will be cutting someone)

And SM owns Twilight. Sadly, I don't.

Read on my lovelies!

* * *

><p>BPOV<p>

"Bella, meet Rosalie and Emmett Cullen. Remember I told you about them?" Edward said from beside me, and I immediately relax a little.

But I'm still stunned. I'm not used to surprise visits like this, from people I don't know, but I guess I have to get used to it in this family.

Emmett is a huge guy, with green eyes, and dark curly brown hair.

And Rosalie is a gorgeous blonde that looks like a fucking Greek god. She really is a stunning woman. Even I can admit that.

"Yeah, of course I do. It's so nice to meet you both." I waved from across the room.

"BELLA!" I heard Mason and Izzy squeal, as they came running towards me, wrapping their arms around my waist. "We missed you so much!" Izzy smiled up at me.

I felt a few tears gather in my eyes. "I missed you guys, too. It really was too long to be away from my two favorite twins." I winked at them.

"HEY!" I heard Edward and Jasper protest, which just got everyone laughing.

Emmett crossed the living room and I flinched, but he still scooped me up and hugged the stuffing out of me.

"I've been waiting so long to meet the famous Bella! I can't believe I finally get to." I'm breathing heavily because I'm slightly freaking out.

He finally sets me down and I quickly make my way back to Edward's side with the kids beside him.

I was a little shaken, but I knew from Edward that Emmett wouldn't hurt me… but that didn't stop me from being a little leery. It was more the shock of it than anything else. I just have to get to know him, I guess.

And Rosalie. I hope I can get to know her better, and talk to her some while she's here.

I saw Rosalie reach out and slap Emmett across the back of the head.

"You're an idiot. I told you not to scare her, you big oaf." I heard her hiss at Emmett.

"Sorry. I forgot." He looked a little sheepish. "I couldn't help it. You know I'm a hugger."

Rosalie rolled her eyes and looked back over to me. "Sorry about him. Really, he's just a cuddly teddy bear trapped in Big Foot's body. I'm Rosalie, by the way. I'm so glad we finally get to meet you." She tentatively held out her arms for a hug, with her eyes showing understanding and warmth that I always saw from the rest of the Cullen family.

I cautiously walked over to her and gently walked into her embrace. I felt her arms wrap around me, and it wasn't at all uncomfortable.

Edward told me that he had let her know the details about me, and that she was more than willing to be there for me and understood exactly how I feel, sometimes.

"We need to sit down and talk, soon. We'll be here the whole weekend, and I want you to feel like you can talk to me whenever you need to. Doesn't matter when." She whispered to me, then gave me a squeeze before she pulled away.

"Thank you" I whispered too, and pulled back to stand by Edward.

"Was that Bella and Edward I heard come in?" I heard Esme's voice through the room, though I didn't know exactly where she was. It didn't seem like she was in the kitchen, or even on the first floor.

Jasper walked over to the wall and pressed a button on it.

"Yeah Ma, they're here." He spoke into, what I'm guessing is a speaker system.

I turned to Edward, "I didn't even notice those the last time I was here." I whispered.

He just laughed. "Well, normally, we just yell, but I think mom's all the way up in the attic, so no one would hear her if she tried. And in a house this big, it's good to have." He explained, and I guess it did make sense. You'd never know where anyone was in this damn house if you just kept yelling and running room to room. That would not be fun.

We all sat down and watched the rest of the game that was going on, on the floor.

Mason, Izzy, Jasper and Alice were in a heated game of _Monopoly_, and it didn't look like anyone was giving in.

I heard footsteps quickly descending the stairs, and figured it was Esme.

"Bella?!" I heard her, before she entered the living room. When she rounded the corner, her face lit up and she came running over to me. "Oh baby, I'm so glad you're back!" She wrapped her arms around me, tightly.

I was so glad to feel her maternal embrace again. My own mother doesn't really hug ever, but when she has in the past, it's just felt forced and not very real.

Esme on the other hand, she's so compassionate and loving that there's never a time that I haven't enjoyed her hugs, or talks with her.

"Come up and see what I'm working on. I think you'll like it." Esme tugged on my arm to follow her, and I followed, without question.

"I'm coming too!" I heard Rosalie behind us, then Alice. "Hey wait for me too!"

"Hi Edward, nice to see you home too!" I heard Edward yell from the living room, and couldn't help but laugh, as did the other women.

Esme stopped on the stairs where she could still slightly see into the living room.

"I brought you into this world Edward Anthony Cullen, don't make me take you out of it!" the four of us laughed a little, then continued up the stairs.

I hadn't been up to the attic area yet, I hadn't had a reason to, but I have to say, it wasn't like most attics.

And I mean that in a really good way.

It was more like any other room that just happened to store a shitload of stuff. Antiques, what look to be gun cabinets and cases that possibly hold them, extra furniture, rugs, crates that look like they hold decorations, etc.

"Wow. I guess I know why the garage has nothing but actual cars in it." I joked as we made it through the room.

Esme turned and smile. "Damn right. I don't want my stuff to get messed up down there when the boys get their toys out and start messing with them. I only let them put the guns up here because it's on a separate side of the room from my stuff. And they better be damn sure that if they even scratch up any of those antiques, it will come out of their own hide." She smirked and winked as she went over to a table that seemed to be overflowing with party suppl-

Oh no…

"No, Esme, please tell me that's not for-" I started to protest, but, as I figured, she stopped me.

"Don't you dare. Yes, it is. We ARE throwing you a party for your birthday. Sweetheart, you deserve to have your birthday celebrated. I kind of had a guess that you wouldn't want to, but hear me out. We've been gone for so long, and we've missed so much. We really want to celebrate all the birthdays we missed. And it won't be a lot of people. Just the ten of us. I called Emmett and Rose to see if they were able to make it out for the party and so you could finally meet them. And it's not going to be a 'surprise party' anyways. That's why I'm showing you now. I want you to know exactly what we're doing." She said, giving me a hopeful look, and her hands clasped under her chin.

"Oh don't do that to me, Ma. That's so unfair. I hate celebrating my birthday." I skulked.

"Come on, Bells. I've been dying to meet you ever since I met Jasper, and I'm always about celebrating birthdays. Well, any party, really. I promise, we won't go overboard with it, but pleeeaassse, just let us do this." Alice gave me a pout, that wasn't far from Esme's look that she gave me.

I saw Rosalie standing beside them, giving me the same damn look.

Oh they ganged up on me for this one. Great.

"You guys suck. How am I supposed to say no when you all gang up on me like this? And is the look a trait that you get when you become a Cullen woman? Because all three of you have it… Urrgg, fine! You can do a party, but please, PLEASE, don't make a huge production out of it. I've never really celebrated my birthday, so it's never been a big deal to me." I looked down as I said the last sentence.

I felt arms around me and sank into the embrace.

"Baby, you are someone that should _always_ be celebrated. You're beautiful, smart, talented, caring, selfless, I could go on and on, sweetheart. But you shouldn't have to let how your parents treated you and basically swept you under the rug, stop you from embracing life. We're gonna start now, with your birthday." I heard Esme tell me, then pulled back and kissed my cheek when I nodded.

She's right, as always. I need to start embracing life. But it's gonna be slow going. And I've gotta start somewhere.

"Ok, I won't complain, and I'll be a good sport. I'm just not used to any of this."

All three of them squealed and hugged me, and I couldn't help but laugh at their excitement.

They went through all of the party supplies to show me exactly what they were going to do, and most of it was purple and silver, very elegant, yet simple. And, like they said, nothing was too over the top.

At least they get me.

When we made it back downstairs, the guys are all on the floor playing against Mason and Izzy, and it looks even more intense than it was when we came in earlier.

Emmett seems to be even more into the game than the kids are.

"Dude, suck it up and pay the fucking rent. Don't be a pussy." Emmett taunted Jasper, who glared back at him and handed over the _monopoly_ money.

"Oooh, uncle Em, you said a bad word. You need a time-out." Izzy chided him, while Edward and Jasper just laughed.

"What!? Aww come on, Izzy." Emmett tried to worm his way out.

"Uh-uh. You have to put money in the swear jar too." Mason chimed in, with a little smile on his face.

These kids have got to have a fortune already with having these three around all the time when they were in Chicago. Even now, Edward and Jasper probably 'contribute' to the swear jar on a daily basis, as it is.

"Your kids are already on the right path to running the business, dude." Emmett muttered to Edward as he handed him a twenty. "That should cover for the day."

Edward chuckled and pocketed the money so he could put it in the kids' jar.

We stayed in there and watched the game play out for a while, then Esme asked if anyone wanted to help with dinner.

Of course, I said I would. I love my kitchen time with Esme.

The evening was great. Esme, Alice, Rose and I made a dinner of roast, oven roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, and a salad. And I even made a desert of butterfinger pie. Which the kids went nuts over… especially Emmett.

After dinner, we took the kids out back so they could play in their tree house before it got too dark.

As we were walking out there, Rosalie pulled me to the side of the back deck and sat down in one of the lounge chairs.

"I figured I'd go ahead and tell you my story while we've got some time." She said, making sure the kids couldn't hear from where we were sitting.

I sat down beside her and got comfortable. Because with the haunted look that just came over her face, it may take a while.

"I lived in Chicago for a big portion of my life. Moved there from South Carolina when I was almost nine.

"I grew up knowing Emmett and Jasper and Edward. But didn't really start dating Emmett until high school. We were your typical high school sweethearts that stayed together after we graduated.

*"But, when I was twenty, I was in the wrong area of Chicago and two guys jumped me. They dragged me to a building that was nearby that was abandoned. They hit me a few times, my jaw was sore from when they punched me there, but they still made me… you know, suck them. I cried the whole time." She let a few tears trail down her cheek, but wiped them away.

"They weren't done, hitting or raping me. I got hit in the stomach, my crotch, my face, wherever they could reach. Then they raped me, I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times. All I know is that I screamed for them to stop, and I screamed for Em the entire time." Her body was now shaking with her sobs.*

I wrapped my arms around her and just let her cry and cry.

What fucking sadistic asshole does that to a woman?

After she calmed down somewhat, she finally spoke again.

"I wasn't sure how long I had been there, but they had left me there, naked, in that building. I eventually was able to get out of the building and find some help. There was a woman that was walking down the street and she saw me, with the few pieces of my clothes that I could find, and she rushed over to help.

"I went to the hospital and refused to have a male doctor check me over. The only man I let near me for a full month, was Em. I was so terrified that someone was going to do that to me again.

"I was a complete mess for… I don't even know how long. But eventually, I started letting people in again. I hated that I was pushing Carlisle, Jasper, Edward, and even my dad, away. I wanted my life back. So I went with Alice to boxing classes, the shooting range, self defense, therapy, you name it, I did it. But I found that the shooting range and boxing classes made me feel better because I could get out my aggression. I just wanted to hurt something after my attack.

"Alice was so accommodating with making part of her clothing line with me in mind. I couldn't thank her enough. I just didn't want to feel exposed anymore. I mean, I didn't used to dress overly slutty, but I had my clothes that felt a little too much showing for my taste. And I didn't want to dress like a soccer mom, or a granny. But Ali did a great job.

"It took me a long time to get where I am now, but I made it out a better person."

I was completely in awe of the person sitting in front of me.

"You… are unbelievably strong. I can't even… begin to understand how the hell you've turned out the way you have after what you've been through. I'm so, so sorry that you were subjected to that, Rose." I told her with tears falling down my cheeks.

But then something hit me. "Please tell me that they caught those bastards!"

Rosalie looked up at me and nodded. "Yeah. When the cops took my statement, they went back to the area that I was found and they started asking around. Some people said that they had seen a couple of guys hanging around the neighborhood a couple of days before I was attacked. They were stupid enough to get caught on security cameras, so the cops found them pretty quickly. They're in jail for twenty-five to life because I wasn't the only girl they kidnapped and raped. So I don't have to worry about them for a long, long time."

I just sat there for a little while, holding onto her hand, and thinking.

Now that I've heard this, I feel like my attack was nothing in comparison.

And something that had always nagged at the back of my head, needed to be asked to someone that had been through something like me.

"Rose… did you ever blame yourself?" I whispered, looking at the ground.

I heard her sigh. "Yes. I blamed myself for so many things after it happened. But after I talked to family, my therapist and other victims, I found that it wasn't my fault. No one asks for this to happen. No one sets out in the morning thinking that 'hey, maybe I'll get the attention of a psychopath'. We're victims, but we're also survivors. We lived to tell our tales, and help keep other women informed and safe. I'm not going to let it keep me down anymore. Because if I do, then they won. They will have the satisfaction that I am scared out of my mind, staying inside my house, and terrified that someone's gonna get me. That no one will ever want me again after what they did to me. While they sit in a cell, they could be thinking that it was all worth it because their sick game ended someone's life dreams. But I went to the prison a while after they were sentenced and I was in a better place afterwards. I showed them that they may have gotten their fun, they're stuck in a jail cell for the rest of their life, while I got to go on and marry the man that I love. They didn't get me down in the end. _I_ won._ I_ get to know that they're locked away somewhere, and I'm free and living my life again.

"Bella, Edward told me what happened, but I didn't hear it from you."

So I told her my story, too. It wasn't as gruesome as hers, but it was for me at the time.

"Bells, Black is gonna end up with a bullet in his head. Don't you doubt that. But you can't let that fear bring you down. You have to face it. We'll help you get to that point, but you also need to dig and bring out the warrior. Because, sweetie, I don't think it's gonna be an easy ride. This life, people like Black, it's all brutal at times. But… if you're in it for the long haul, then it's worth it in the endto be with the people that you love."

* * *

><p>Anyone cry? I know I did when I wrote it. I have a tendency to write the tear-jerkers, don't I? Sorry, can't be helped.<p>

So, what is this, 2 or 3 weeks in a row? Is that right? I'm on a roll. Sort of. Lol

So you see my problem from my rant before? This was all thought of waaaaayyy before I even started this story. So, if someone doesn't like how I do things here, they can suck it. It's my story, I'm from the area, I'm gonna use what I know. So fuck it.

I maaaayyy or may not get MBEB up for next week. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna write that side, just as needed. But I promise I'm not abandoning it.

Oky doky, I'll see you guys, maybe next week, here or there.

Laters!


	16. Chapter 16

HIIIIIII! You guys keep surprising me! I appreciate all of your reviews and favorites more than I can tell you.

This chapter, we start getting somewhere :D hope y'all like it.

Working on the next chapter of MBEB, and should have it up next week.

I'm still thinking on the Charleston thing, but I'll figure that out for sure when the time comes for it to come into play. I've still got some options for it.

So, y'all know the drill, Laurie(Lola) is my beta and awesomesauce bestest.

And SM owns Twilight. Duh.

Soooo, read on. Not much else this week that I can think of.

* * *

><p>BPOV<p>

After my talk with Rosalie, I felt… a little lighter. Mostly because of her strength and fire. She's definitely a much stronger person that me, but if she can come back from what she went through, then I can too.

Once we've promised to spend the day together tomorrow, Edward, the kids, and I head back to the hotel. And Rosalie and Emmett decided they wanted to check out their own suite, so they opted not to stay at Esme's tonight.

Edward went to show Emmett and Rose their place, while I took the kids upstairs to make sure they got their baths and got ready for bed. I told Edward I didn't mind, and it would be good bonding time with the two of them.

Of course, the kids tried to splash me, but I told them if they kept that up, there will be no bedtime story.

Apparently they like me reading to them, because that got them to stop.

"Bella? Can we listen to music until bedtime?" Izzy asked as I got them dressed in their p.j.'s.

"Umm, sure. I don't know what you guys usually listen to, so you're gonna have to help me a little. Do you like… Disney music, or kid's songs, or what?" I ask, because I'm not really sure.

In the car, we would listen to whatever came on Edward's iPod. But I had no clue what they wanted to actually listen to.

"We listen to lots of stuff. We're not picky. Izzy likes a lot of Disney songs, and I like a few of them. But we like a lot of what daddy calls 'normal music'. Like… uhh… what was that one person that we like to listen to, Iz?" Mason asked his sister with a furrowed brow. It was cute because he was trying so hard to remember something, but just couldn't. He looked so much like Edward, that it was scary sometimes.

"Umm, Bon Jovi? I like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, too. Mason likes Michael Jackson and… Journey? Is that the other one, Mase?" Izzy was trying to work out all the people they seemed to like to listen to.

"Well, god love your daddy for instilling some good music taste in you two." I laughed and kissed the two of them on the head.

I grabbed my iPod and looked through it to find some songs we could listen to. I just so happen to have all of that on there.

I set the iPod on the dock that Edward had in the living room and the kids started squealing and singing along.

It was a while later that Edward walked in the door and saw us dancing around. I was a little embarrassed, but the kids were having a blast.

Edward seemed to find it all amusing since he decided to laugh at the scene in front of him. But then he just scooped up Izzy and twirled her around the room.

Mason saw that and held his arms out to me.

I figured what the hell. So I picked him up and spun him around in my arms, too.

I loved these two so much already, and I really did love their father. I just need to get the guts to tell him.

I mean, he's already told me that he does a handful of times, so why can't I at least tell him once?

I know why. Because I'm scared.

I'm scared that once I do that, it'll change things. And I'm not sure if I'm ready for those changes.

In a way, I am ready for them. But I guess I just don't want it to affect our friendship.

But… if I tell him, then I'm giving him my heart.

Do I trust him enough to not crush it once he has it?

Then I look over at him dancing with Izzy, and see the smile and happiness on his face. And when he looks up at me, I see the same happiness and love that he has for his children.

It's unconditional and wholly fixed in place. It never goes away.

So why the fuck am I still waiting to tell him?

_Because you're a god damn coward and you're afraid of anything good happening to you._

That's true too. I am afraid of anything good that happens to me, because, in all my life, something usually comes up and ruins it. I've never had the good luck of basking in the happiness's of life.

'_You can't let that fear bring you down. You have to face it_.'

'_If you're in it for the long haul, then it's worth it in the end__to be with the people that you love._'

Rosalie's words come back to me, and made me think.

She's right. I can't let that fear bring me down. I have to face it. Because it is worth it in the end to be with Edward. And Mason and Izzy.

Everything is worth it.

Edward and I finally take the kids to bed. He reads to Izzy, and I read to Mason.

Mason wants the book 'Where the wild things are' tonight.

Such a great classic children's story.

Once Mason falls asleep, I make sure he's tucked in, and walk out into the hallway and towards the living room.

My iPod has run into a different playlist, and the first strings of Christina Perri starts playing. And apparently the universe is telling me something, because the song is 'A thousand years'.

I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist and start swaying to the music.

"Dance with me, Beautiful."

His voice is soft, but I hear the longing in it, too.

I turn around and bury my face in his chest as we continue to sway, and he takes one of my hands in his, while his other is around my back.

_Heart beats fast_

_Colors and promises_

_How to be brave_

_How can I love when I'm afraid to fall_

_But watching you stand alone_

_All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow._

I can't help but breathe him in. In the last twenty years, this is the one thing I longed for; love. That powerful, wonderful, enchanting feeling that you get for someone. The unconditional, irrevocable love for someone that means everything to you.

_One step closer_

_I have died everyday waiting for you_

_Darling don't be afraid I have loved you_

_For a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more_

The song is my crippling point. I feel the tears, quietly falling down my cheeks, soaking into his shirt.

_Time stands still_

_Beauty in all she is_

_I will be brave_

_I will not let anything take away_

_What's standing in front of me_

_Every breath_

_Every hour has come to this_

_One step closer_

I pull my hands up to his face, cupping both of his cheeks and looking into his eyes that have their own dampness in them.

_I have died everyday waiting for you_

_Darling don't be afraid I have loved you_

_For a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more_

_And all along I believed I would find you_

_Time has brought your heart to me_

_I have loved you for a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more_

"I love you. I love you so much, Edward. I can't lose you again." I tell him, in a shaky voice, then suddenly feel his lips crash into mine. His hand making its way to the back of my head and tangling into my hair.

Edward swipes his tongue across my lower lip, and I automatically open my mouth to his, welcoming his tongue with my own.

I can't breath. But I don't fucking care right now. I'd rather suffocate than stop kissing him right now.

I feel my feet leave the floor, slightly, and feel his arm tighten around my waist.

"God, baby you don't know how long I've waited to hear that. I fucking love you, so much it hurts." He says against my lips, and then attacks them again.

_One step closer_

_One step closer_

_I have died everyday waiting for you_

_Darling don't be afraid I have loved you_

_For a thousand years_

_I'll love you for a thousand more_

_And all along I believed I would find you_

_Time has brought your heart to me_

_I have loved you for a thousand years_

We kiss like that for what feels like forever, but it's probably only about five or ten minutes.

I don't want to ever stop.

But eventually, we slow down our kisses and pull back to rest our foreheads against each other.

"You have no idea how happy I am right now." He says in a quiet voice, and then pecks me on the lips again.

"I think I might. This is probably the happiest I've even been in my life. This feeling just… feels like it's taking over in every single corner of my body." I tell him, still trying to catch my breath.

We stand there for a while longer, and then move over to the couch, and he sits, pulling me into his lap and wraps himself around me.

"I don't want you to go back to your place." I heard his pouting from behind me, and I smiled a little.

"I'm not that far away. You know where I'll be. Besides, we need to go slow. We've gotta think about the twins. I don't want them to freak out or anything if we start rushing this." I told him, running my hands up and down his arms that are around me.

I heard him sigh in my ear. "I know. I just want you with me, always. Now that we're both here, I don't want there to be any sort of distance between us. But I'll go slowly. You're right, I don't want them to start wondering if I'm going to start bringing women into their lives and then having them walk out again. And I know it won't be anything like that, but I would hate for someone at their school to start asking questions that they don't have answers to."

"…I want to be good enough for them, Edward. I don't want them to ever question if I'm gonna leave, or anything. I'll stay as long as you three want me." I said in a quiet voice.

"You are. And I want you, forever. If you'll have me." I can hear the love and devotion in his voice.

I looked back at him over my shoulder. "Is that some sort of proposal?"

He chuckled. "No. Not quite. Trust me, when I propose, it will be… us. Not cheesy, but I still want it to be perfect. Done our own way. Not like everyone else does it in the world."

I smiled. "Good. We're not like everyone else." I kissed his chin and rested my head on his shoulder.

I heard his cell ring a while later and he groaned as he got up to answer it.

"Cullen… Yeah… ok…you guys can't handle this on your own? Fine, we'll be there in a little while." He hung up and turned back to me with a look on his face. "I've gotta go… Umm, can you maybe help me get the kids out to the car? I'm just gonna take them over to my parents so you can go back to your apartment for the night."

"Edward, you don't have to do all of that. I can stay here with them."

"No, B, I don't want you to have to worry about them every night that you live here-" I got up and cut him off.

"Edward, really, it's not a problem. I told you I'd stay with them if you ever had to go to work. I don't have any other obligations right now and I have no where that I need to be. I'm fine with it. Go do whatever you have to do." I looked down so he wouldn't see the worry swirling in my eyes.

I saw him put his fingers under my chin and raised it so I would look at him again. "Hey, what's this?" He motioned to my face.

"…Is it always gonna be like this? Whenever you leave in the middle of the night to go to work, am I going to feel scared all the time that you're not gonna come back?"

He sighed and pulled me into a hug. "Honestly? Probably. Ma still feels that way when dad leaves, so does Alice. Rose does too. You know what? Why don't I call Alice and Rose so they can come up here and keep you company? You can get a jump on your girl bonding time. It'll help keep your mind off of-" He's cut off by a knock at the door. "Things…"

He walks over to the door and checks it, then laughs.

He looks back over at me. "Guess we don't have to call them." He smirks while he opens the door to reveal pajama clad Alice and Rose. "Ro, is that you?" Edward teases her.

"Fuck off, E. I already took my makeup off." She and Alice sweep past him and walk straight to me. "Your pajamas or his, but we're having a movie night. Get a move on, missy." Woah, I could detect the slightest bit of accent in her voice then. I could never really hear it before.

"Uh oh, someone's letting their roots show through." Edward snickered.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm tired. We had a long flight, which I didn't get to sleep on because Em was snoring on my shoulder the whole damn time. Try sleeping when there's a chainsaw in your ear."

"Hey! I do not snore… much." Emmett complained from the doorway and we all just laughed.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Why do you think you fall out of bed sometimes?" Rose asked in a conspiratorial tone.

"…Because… I'm having an awesome dream, and then I feel someone kick me in the ass and I end up on…" he thought for a moment, then realized something. "ROSIE! Why do you have to do that?" Emmett asks, sulking a little.

We couldn't stop laughing.

"Em, honey, it's the only way to get you to stop, sometimes. Some nights, all I have to do is roll you to your side. Some nights, it's no use. And I try waking you up and kicking you in the butt seem to be the only way to do that. So you usually end up falling over the edge of the bed." She said, while wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, babe, but you sound like you're dying when you snore sometimes." She pecks his lips then returns to where Alice and I are.

"Alright, guys let's get going. I wanna get back so I can get up for work in the morning." Edward says to Jasper and Emmett and they walk out the door after giving each of their other halves a kiss and doing their goodbyes.

I felt elated that I was… I don't know… part of that ritual. Edward gave me a kiss and then we did our pinky thing. I almost broke his pinky when I had to pull him back for another kiss before he left.

"Love you, beautiful." He whispered, and then walked backwards.

"Love you, too." I whispered back.

Once they were gone, Alice, Rose and I got comfortable on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and put on a movie. Rose picked it, so it ended up being 'Steel Magnolias'.

I love that movie. It's so sad, but so great.

We talked every so often, and had a blast. But they ended up passing out right towards the end of the movie.

Rose fell asleep with her head in my lap and my legs and feet were tangled halfway across the sectional with Alice's.

You would think we've been doing this forever.

I needed to go pee and check on the kids, so I gently scooted out from under Rosalie's head and put a pillow under it.

I did my business and checked on Izzy and Mason. They were both asleep in their beds. Although I'm not sure you could count Mason as be in his bed. He was angled weirdly with both of his feet hanging off the side of the bed.

Rose and Alice were sprawled out on the sofa, so I decided to go crawl into Edward's big bed.

I noticed it was raining outside of Edward's window, and hoped that they were ok, wherever they were.

I had stolen one of Edward's shirts and boxers earlier, and I pulled the shirt up to my nose so I could smell it. It made me feel a little closer to him. It just had that manly scent that was all Edward.

I fell asleep pretty quick, but felt the bed move a few hours later. When I turned to see if it was Edward, I saw a full head of bronze curls.

"Izzy? What's the matter, sweetheart?" I asked groggily.

"I got scared of the storm." She said, her voice a little muffled by the pillow she was holding onto.

I hadn't even noticed the thunder. It wasn't bad, but I know a lot of kids get scared of storms, so I get it. I wasn't a fan of them when I was little either. And in Seattle, rain and such is a normal thing, so you get used to it after a while.

"Hey, it's ok, honey. You're fine. I'm right here. It won't hurt you." I tried to sooth her while rubbing her back.

She let go of the pillow and wrapped her little arms around me, and clung to me.

"Daddy? Bella?" I heard Mason's little voice from the doorway.

I peered over the side of the bed and saw him standing there, looking a little scared too.

"Come on, Mason. It's just me and Izzy. Daddy's at work." I told him, holding out my arm for him to come and get in the bed.

He ran over and jumped in with me and Izzy, and curled up with us.

"It's ok, guys. It's just a little storm. We're safe in here and nothing can get us. I won't let it." I soothed them.

We stayed curled up in the bed for a long time. I finally felt them relax and fall asleep about an hour or so later, and I wasn't far behind them.

I woke up hours later when the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon, and the sky was still kind of grey.

I noticed that it wasn't just me and Izzy and Mason in the bed, anymore.

Thank god Edward had a California king bed.

Rose was on the other side of Izzy and Alice was on the other side of Mason. And Edward was wrapped around me from behind.

I smiled. How could you not when you've got family like this that want to be around each other, and not bitch and fight all the time? Sure, I know Edward and Jasper, and probably Emmett too; do their fair share of fighting. But they're brothers and cousins. That's what they do.

But this is what family does. They comfort each other during a storm, no questions asked.

I laid there for a while longer, just feeling the wonder of this family.

I finally felt Edward start to stir a little. He nuzzled into my neck, and I started to giggle.

I so wasn't used to anything like that, but it felt right.

"Morning, Beautiful." I heard the sleepy voice say from behind me.

I turned my head so I could see his still sleep heavy eyes. "Morning. I'm glad you made it home."

"Hmmm, 'home', coming from you, sounds so amazing." He kissed my cheek, and then worked his way over to my mouth.

I then felt a pair of smaller pair of arms tighten around my waist, and I pulled back from Edward.

"Mmm, mommy." I heard Izzy murmur in her sleep.

I gasped, and looked down at her to make sure she was asleep, as I felt tears well up in my eyes.

Her eyes were still closed, but she had a smile plastered across her face.

She looked so happy.

I turned back to look at Edward, my mouth agape and tears falling down my cheeks.

I was met with a watery smile from him as he looked down at his daughter, too, then he looked back up at me, and I saw everything in his eyes.

Love, longing, hope, happiness, contentment. It was all there.

He really did want me. Not just as a best friend, or a neighbor, or even just as a girlfriend.

He wanted me to be his other half and a mother to his children.

I realized, I wanted that too.

* * *

><p>Who loves these kids? I sure as hell do.<p>

So this was a sweet chapter for all of you.

Next week, we'll see what Edward was doing from this chapter.

The next chapter for this side, I'm gonna start working on and hopefully have it ready on time. Still trying to figure out how I'm working next chapter, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Alright kids, I'm out. Leave reviews. You know I love them *big happy face*

Laters!


	17. Chapter 17

Hey guys! Omfg, you guys really have no clue how much I fllooooovvvveee reading your reviews and seeing all of the 'follows' and 'favorites'. Makes my fucking week!

Alright, sooo, those of you that are NOT reading MBEB…. Shame on you. you're missing all the good stuff! And 'The Mason and Izzy Chronicles' are in the most recent chapter of MBEB, come on. Get your butts over there and start reading. Lol I had one review last week, from…. 'troberts', I think? Who said that they were proud that Carlisle got the first shot in at Jacob. I'm totally freakin proud of him too. We haven't seen him do that much on that side of the story, but I just had to let him have a moment

Some people may think this story is going a bit fast. But you know what? It's not as out of line as most of the other stories I read, so get over it. At least they somewhat knew each other years before. So take it with a grain of salt; I could have made it worse. I could've put that they jumped each other and hopped a plane to vegas to get married. But I didn't, so we're good.

And as always, Lola is my awesome beta reader, and cool as shit because she's always on top of the twilight stuff that comes out and keeps me up to date. Muahs.

And of course, SM owns twilight. Not I.

Read on, my lovelies!

* * *

><p>BPOV<p>

"I should… go make breakfast. I'm sure you guys are hungry after last night." I whisper to Edward, as I try to calm myself down.

Izzy calling me mommy kind of rattled me a bit, but sent warmth all through my body.

"Ok. I'll stay here with them, unless you want some help." He whispered back, his lips against my shoulder.

"No, I'll get it. They'll want to see your face when they get up." I gently extracted myself from Izzy's hold, and climbed over Edward, giving him a kiss as I did so. "Love you."

"Love you, too, Beautiful."

I scampered to the bathroom, did my business, and gathered my wits before I went back out there.

I try my best to sneak out of the room and down the hallway to the living room.

That's where I see Emmett and Jasper sprawled out across the two couches. Jasper has the blanket half falling off of him, and he's in a weird position. And Emmett has an arm and a leg hanging off the side, and the blanket that was probably covering him at one point, is now only covering the foot that is on the floor.

I chuckled to myself. I guess I get where Mason gets it from when he's halfway out of his bed.

Edward doesn't seem to ever do that.

I go over and shake Jasper's shoulder.

"Hey, Jazz, I'm making breakfast. What do you guys want?" I tried to be quiet asking him.

"Urrgh. Don't care. Whatever you're making is fine."

"Uhhnn, one more hour. No wakey." Emmett grumbled and turned over on the couch.

I couldn't help but laugh. I could get used to him being here.

"Ooookay. Well I'll let you guys know when it's ready." I told them as I headed towards the kitchen.

"Ugh, I'm up. I gotta go piss anyways." I heard Jasper groan as he slowly got off the couch.

"Thanks for that info, Jazz." I snorted at him.

"Anytime, Little B." He said back, walking down the hall to the bathroom.

I shook my head and smiled. I'm so glad they're back.

I busied myself getting breakfast ready. I was going to make eggs, sausage, and French toast, with some fruit.

As I started on the French toast, Emmett plopped himself down on a barstool across from me.

"So how goes it, Little B?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Pretty good. The kids got scared of the rain last night, so they ended up coming and getting into bed with me. I don't mind though. I was scared shitless of rain and storms when I was little too, so I won't begrudge them that. Other than that, I'm just glad to be back here and away from Forks."

"Yeah, Ed told me about your situation back there. Sorry to hear about that. No one should ever treat their kid that way. I'm glad you got away from all that shit. I hope you don't mind him telling us." He started messing with the placemat that was sitting in front of him.

"No. I mean, you guys are family and you're close. I told him it was fine to go ahead and tell Rosalie since she went through…something similar. And Alice, too. You guys didn't know me from Adam, so you may as well know my background if any of you are gonna trust and understand me. I'm not gonna lie and say my life was hunky-dory. Aside from when Edward and his family were there when we were little, I've been a human doormat. Or a punching bag. It wasn't always physical as much as it was emotional, but it hurts the same, ya know? But Edward was right, I need to stop letting people walk all over me. Be more confident in myself. It'll take some time though. I've got a lot of fears and paranoia to get through. But having Edward and his family around is helping, more than anything else. I never thought I'd see any of them again." I told him as I was finishing up with the French toast and getting the eggs ready to cook.

Emmett nodded. "Well, just know that you can come to any of us. You're family. Esme and Carlisle trust you and consider you their daughter. Especially after last night, when Carlisle defended your honor. So that just shows how much this family cares for you. And I'll be one of them, too." He smiled at me.

"Thanks, Emmett. That means so much to me." But then I thought about what else he said. "Wait, Carlisle was defending my honor?"

Emmett looked a little spooked. Guess he wasn't suppose to say anything yet. "Uhh, yeah. We had a problem down at the warehouses and Jacob Black was there. Let's just say that he wasn't exactly being a gentleman…"

That had me stiffening.

_Jacob was there last night. Oh god…_

"Shit. I'm so not ready to deal with him and his shit…"

"Hey, don't worry, Little B. We won't let him get to you. You've got family around that loves you, now. And pretty soon, me and Rosie will be moving out here too. So you also have us. Anytime you need something, call us and we'll be out here." He smiled, his big dimples shining on his face.

"Thanks Em. I appreciate that. You and Edward and Jasper must be really close."

"More than you want to know, Little B." Jasper chuckled as he walked in and went to the fridge. "You don't even want to know how many times I've been forced to see his hairy ass."

That had me laughing, almost hysterically.

"Hey! My ass is not hairy." Emmett argued, kind of pouty.

"Yeah, whatever you say, Em. You look like a cross between a bear and a werewolf, sometimes." Jasper laughed.

"You and E suck." Emmett grumbled and crossed his arms.

"It's alright Em. You could always wax…" I suggested, trying to keep a straight face.

Emmett narrowed his eyes. "I see how it is, you're gonna take their side. I see where I stand in this family." He grumbled again, and I couldn't stop my laughter this time.

I walked around the island and wrapped my arms around his neck from behind. "Don't be upset, Em. At least you know we love you."

Emmett smiled and squeezed the arms that were around his neck.

But then I felt myself leave the ground, and two arms around my waist, with me squealing.

"Of course we love Em. Why else would we keep him around?" Edward laughed from behind me as he carried me back to the other side of the island. He set me down and I turned around to look up at him. "Morning, again, Beautiful." He kissed my lips.

"Morning." I smiled up at him. "Are the kids up?"

"Yep, they're washing up and they'll be here in a sec." He grabbed a piece of sausage and danced away from my hand swatting him.

Izzy and Mason came running down the hall and straight for me. They both wrapped their little arms around my waist and hugged the stuffing out of me.

"Morning Bella!" They chorused together. They're so stinking cute.

"Good morning you two. How did you both sleep after you came to your dad's room last night?" I asked them as Edward helped me get plates and cups and such together.

"Good. I just don't like being alone when it rains and thunders. It's scary." Izzy told me as she got into her seat at the table. Mason climbed up into the chair beside her, nodding his head in agreement.

Breakfast was… an interesting affair. I swear Emmett is the funniest person I've ever met in my life. And probably the hungriest, too.

And Rosalie is like a kindred spirit. She and Alice are wonderful, and are really like sisters to me, already. They're understanding and incredibly supportive.

I couldn't ask to be around better people, even if I could dream them up. I love these people.

We ended up spending a girl's day together. Even Izzy, who begged to come along, was involved.

We spent the day shopping, and having lunch, and went to a movie with Izzy, then met the guys for dinner at a nice restaurant.

It was rare that I ever got to have these kinds of days when I was in Forks. It was hard for me to get to Seattle sometimes, because of my truck, but I did get some shopping in when I would visit my sister and her family. Not that it was much.

But to just be able to hang out with your friends, and not really have to worry about my mom or dad and what they needed me to do for them, and just… be.

And Izzy held my hand the whole day. It made me feel really special that she cared that much for me.

That night, I helped Edward get the kids to bed again, but I was going to go to my apartment and sleep there tonight. It would be kind of stupid if I had a place to live, and I stayed at another place every night.

We had sat out on the balcony of Edward's apartment until after midnight. And I figured I should probably head to my place so he could sleep. Mason and Izzy would probably be up bright and early.

He walked me to the door and hugged me. "Happy Birthday, my Beautiful." He whispered before he kissed me.

I looked at him in shock, and then realized that it was, in fact, September 13.

"I guess that just goes to show you how much I really celebrate my birthday. I had no idea it was the 13th already." I told him.

"Did you already forget there was a party for you tomorrow?" He asked, with a chuckle.

"No. I mean, with everything today and the fact that I can't stand to celebrate it, I guess I just let it slip to the back of my mind."

"Well, you're gonna have to get used to this. Ma and the girls, and especially me, won't let you forget it. And you're gonna get used to celebrating in some way." He smiled, and kissed me again.

"Fine. But I still don't like people making a fuss over me. I'd rather Mason and Izzy have that attention for their own birthday… When is their birthday, anyways?" I realized I didn't have a clue when their birthday was.

"March 3rd. They're winter babies." He smiled. "And just because your parents and siblings were assholes, and never helped you celebrate, doesn't mean that people that really love you will do the same. You're part of this family, and we make sure everyone is celebrated. Suck it up, sweetheart." He kissed my lips again.

"I'm complying against my better judgment. Only because I love all of you. But I wanna help plan the kids' birthday." I bargained, because I love helping plan children's birthdays.

He faked like he was thinking it over, but smiled at me. "You drive a hard bargain, Beautiful, but you've got a deal."

"Good! Ok, I'm going home. I'll see you… tomorrow, I guess. When do we have to be at your parents' house?"

"It's gonna be an all afternoon thing, so I'd say probably around noon. Ma said casual since it's just us. If you're up for it, why don't I bring the kids down to your place in the morning, and we can spend some time together and they can see your place before we head over? I know they're dying to give you your birthday gift." He snickered. Oh god.

I wrinkled my nose. "Did I forget to make the stipulation of no gifts?" I joked, which he laughed at. "That sounds good, though. You have a key to my place, right?"

"… Uh, yeah, but I only have it in case of an emergency."

"If I don't answer, then you can use it. It's my birthday after all. I might just sleep in." I smiled up at him as I made my way to open the door.

"Not with those two around. They'll be up at daybreak wanting to beat down your door." He snickered. "I'll try to hold them off as long as I can."

"Thank you. I'll see you in the morning." I leaned back in and kissed him one last time. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Go get some sleep." He watched me walk towards the elevator and waited for the doors to close.

I quickly made my way down to my place and fell into bed after I'd stripped out of my clothes and into a t-shirt. I was tired as hell.

The next thing I know, I feel my bed bouncing up and down.

"Bella! Bella! Wake up! We need to sing to you!" I heard the sweetest two voices.

I opened my eyes to see Mason and Izzy sitting over me, bright smiles lighting their faces. And Edward sitting behind them with a smile on his face, as well, and excitement glowing in his eyes.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday Mommy B-eeeee. Happy Birthday to you!" They sung, in beautiful angelic voices, and I burst into tears.

I pulled them to me and hugged them tightly.

Hearing them call me that… I thought it would make me feel weird. But… it warmed my heart to the point that I thought it might burst.

"That… is the best birthday present I've ever gotten, in my whole life. Thank you so much!" I thanked them as I pulled back and kissed them all over their little faces, and they just giggled.

"We wanted to try it. I know we asked you to be our mommy, so for now, you can be Mommy B." Izzy reasoned, and I just couldn't argue.

How could I not agree to that? I mean, yeah it's a big step, but I've been jumping in, feet first, ever since Edward's been back in my life. I'm not letting any of this slip away.

"It's perfect, honey. I'm honored to have that title. You two are so amazingly sweet." I hugged them again and sat back on the bed.

Edward had the biggest smile possible on his face. I then noticed he had a couple of small gifts sitting in front of him.

"I thought I said no gifts, Edward…" I scolded, but couldn't keep from smiling.

They actually cared enough to get me something.

"I never said I'd agree to that. Besides, Izzy and Mason wanted to give you something special, and I figured it'd be best to do it now, before we went over to Ma's house. I know they got you something, so don't get mad. This way we're spreading them out over the day." He smiled, a little victoriously.

Jerk.

I didn't say anything back, so he handed me the first gift.

"It's from both of them." He said as I tore off the wrapping paper.

It was a small rectangular jewelry box. And as I opened it, I gasped.

Inside was a beautiful white gold bracelet, with a heart shaped charm on it that had Izzy and Mason's picture printed into the metal on either side.

It was simple, but so perfect.

"It's wonderful! Will you guys help me put it on?" I pulled it out of the box and held it up to them.

Mason held the bracelet on my wrist while Izzy fastened the clasp. As it dangled, I looked at it and it fit perfectly, and felt like it was suppose to be there.

"Thank you, my little loves! It's beautiful!" I kissed them both again as they hugged me.

As they settled back onto the bed, Edward handed me another small box.

"Now, I may have cut a corner or two with this, but it's just a formality as to when, so don't be upset." He seemed a tad nervous, but only to a point.

I raised a brow at him, and opened the box.

Inside, I found an envelope with my name on it. As I opened that up, I found a black card…

A black AmEx card…

With the name Isabella Swan Cullen on it.

My head shot up to meet Edward's eyes.

"I said don't be upset. You know what we talked about the other night, and I went ahead and had that set up for you. I want you to take a day to yourself, and go out and buy whatever your heart wants. There's no limit, but I want you to actually use it. And I don't want any argument. This is part of being a part of this family. Alice and Rose have them, so don't flip out. It's meant for you to use it, and I want you to. And when the… 'm' word comes around, it'll be taken care of… unless you've changed your mind on that…" He looked a little worried that I'd still say no.

"Of course I haven't changed my mind. It's just… it's a lot, Edward. I don't feel like I deserve this. I feel like I haven't earned something like this. I doubt I ever would."

He looked at Mason and Izzy for a second and tapped their shoulder. "Hey, go make sure Namie brought groceries for us to make breakfast, please."

They nodded then bounced out of the room and Edward turned back to me.

"Bella, of course you deserve this. I know all of this is fast, and overwhelming, but this is what comes with being in this family. You need to start getting used to it, my love."

"I just… what if someday you… don't want me anymore and find someone better?" I ask in a low voice, looking down at my blanket covered lap.

"Look at me, babe." He encouraged me in a soft voice. I finally comply and look up. "That. Would never. Happen. Baby, I've loved you, deep down, ever since we were kids. I just never knew what it was. I missed you like crazy over the years. And every time I think of how I missed seeing Mason and Izzy being born, I couldn't help but imagine that it was you giving birth to them. I see you having more of my children in the future. But we'll get there when the time comes. Don't ever doubt that I love you. You are my future. And now that I've got you back, I'm never letting you go. Mom and dad love you. Jasper and Emmett love you and are hell bent on protecting you, themselves. Rose and Alice already love you like you're their sister. Mason and Izzy love and trust you enough to want you to be their mother. And I love you… without reason. You make my life feel whole, again. You and Izzy and Mason are my life. We're gonna be a family, someday. If that's what you want. And don't say you shouldn't be a part of this family. You already are. You're a Cullen whether we get married someday, or not. But I'd really love it if I could call you Mrs. Cullen, one day." He smiled at me, and I couldn't stop my own from shining through.

He really does mean it when he says he loves me and wants to be with me. This is so out of my norm that I just don't know how to respond.

"…I think I can deal with that. I just have to get myself where I'm comfortable with any of this."

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that the card was mom and dad's idea? Well they told me last weekend that I needed to get you a 'family card' so that you could officially become part of the family. So, essentially, this is from all of us. It's our way of saying, 'welcome to the family'." He said, then picked up my hand and kissed it. "Please, say you'll accept it, Isabella Cullen?" He grinned.

Sneaky bastard.

"Ugh, I don't even know whether I want to hit you or kiss you… Yes, ok, I'll accept it. But just know, I hate that you guys are using your money to pay for my bills. We're still gonna talk about my utilities and such. Don't think I forgot." I pushed him down on the bed and laid my head on his shoulder.

"I didn't forget. But you're not paying for everything." He kissed my head, and hugged me to him.

"Daddy, Mommy B, can we make breakfast now?" Izzy and Mason asked as they came back in the room.

I really should be freaked out about how fast all of this is going.

But I'm not.

* * *

><p>Ok, don't kill me with the 'it's too fucking soon for them to call her that'. I don't care, it's how I wanted it.<p>

Some of you that read the 'Mason and Izzy Chronicles' asked what Izzy was up to; that was part of it. The other part was when they came running into the bedroom and got in the bed with her. Just FYI.

And either in chapter 18 or 19, you guys are seriously going to kill me. I've already got my armor on, because I'm waiting for the pitchfork wielding readers to blow up my inbox. Just trrryyyyyyy to remember that this is all part of the story. Someone asked me if this story had an HEA, and I told you guys at the beginning that if you've read 'the greatest man I never knew' then it will not end like that one. I cannot begin to tell you how many reviews I got that said that they just sat there and cried while they read the story. I even had someone say the cried so much while they read it that it took them like 3 hours to read the 2 chapters that was in it. I'm not saying that you won't cry with this story, or MBEB, but I am going to say get your damn tissues ready.

AND PUT AWAY THE PITCHFORKS! You won't need them this week.

Until, maybe next week (since I'm not sure if I'll post MBEB then, I may go ahead with this one)

Laters!


	18. Chapter 18

Hiiii guys! Once again, I can't even begin to tell y'all how much I appreciate the reviews and all the favs. You're all so fucking amazing!

Soo, I know some of you left some reviews, worried about me killing off someone in this story. I will say it now, I promised you guys that I would not kill off Bella or Edward. I'm not gonna say the same for the rest of the Cullen's or Bella's parents, but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm leaving that open for inspiration. But I told you all that I wouldn't kill the main characters, and I won't.

Just stay with me in this chapter. The end is…well you'll have to read it. And there's a slight time jump in the middle. And I will have either this one or MBEB up next week. I've got a start on MBEB, but I know you're all gonna want the next chapter of this one as soon as possible. I'll get it up as soon as I can. I promise. It may be a BD opening day post. ;) lol (I'm so excited! Midnight show, here I come! Which seems to be at 10 p.m. where I live. Not sure why….)

And as usual, Lola is my wonderful beta, bestie, and always cool as shit person :p muahs.

And SM owns Twilight, not me.

Read on my dears!

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><p>BPOV<p>

We ended up having an awesome morning together. Edward, Mason, Izzy and I all cook breakfast together, and just hung out with each other until around noon.

I learned so much more about all of them and the rest of the family while we talked and played around.

Mason and Izzy loved their room that they had at my place. They said they couldn't wait to spend the night here with me.

Edward took the kids back upstairs to get ready and left me to do so myself, as well. He had said we should head over to his parents' around lunch time.

When they came back down to get me, I was wearing a pair of white shorts, a cute short sleeve blue button down shirt, with a lightweight three quarter length sweater over it, a thick brown belt, and some comfortable brown wedge flip flops.

It was still a little warm outside during the day, so I may as well embrace the last few days of summer. It'll be cold and wet in a few weeks.

I noticed that Izzy was wearing a pair of black Capri leggings, a greyish/silver skirt over it, and a black t-shirt with a cute flower print all over it. She paired it with some black, white and pink Mary Jane tennis shoes.

So cute.

Mason was wearing a pair of khaki shorts, and a dark blue polo shirt.

He's so handsome. He looks just like Edward did when he was that age. God help us all when he gets to be a teenager and really starts to look like Edward does now. We'll never hear the end of it.

"I know, I know. He does look like I did when I was six." Edward said, reading my mind.

Then I looked at what he was wearing. Edward was in a pair of khaki shorts, too, with a black polo on.

Wait. How did we do…?

Ah what the hell. It's cute that we're somewhat coordinated; me to Mason, and Izzy to Edward. I don't care if people say stuff about it. It's my birthday and they can kiss my ass.

As we walk down through the lobby, Mason is holding my hand on one side of me and Izzy on the other side of Edward, who is beside me and holding my other hand and he has Izzy's in his other, I see Tanya giving me the evil eye.

_What the fuck is her damn problem?_

She seriously has not been very welcoming since I got here, and I think it's because she wants Edward.

_Tough titties, bitch. He's mine!_

I scowl back at her, to which she just turns her nose up at me and looks back at the computer in front of her with anger firing in her eyes.

She needs helps.

We walk out to the garage and get the kids into the Volvo and head out to Esme and Carlisle's house.

But not before Izzy gave me a kiss on the cheek when I was helping her in the car.

So sweet.

When we got to Esme and Carlisle's house, I almost panicked seeing the balloons around the outside of the house, but I calmed myself down.

They went to all the trouble to throw me a party, the least I can do is chill the fuck out and enjoy it.

Walking in, I find Rose and Alice in the living room. Rose is wearing a white and grey chevron pattern maxi skirt with a grey tank top that covers well enough, but is still sexy on her. She also had some cute strappy nude sandals on her feet.

And Alice is wearing a pair of black jean shorts and a turquoise baggy shirt that cinched at the bottom and had drawstring cinched sleeves, with a white tank underneath. She paired it with the cutest pair of turquoise peep-toe ankle boots.

Maybe these are looks from Alice's clothing line?

If it is, then I might want to go check it out. I really like it.

"Hey guys! Happy birthday Bella!" Alice came rushing over when she saw us come in.

She hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek, then was followed by Rosalie behind her.

"Happy birthday, Bells." She said as she hugged me too.

"Thank you. It looks great in here." I told them as I looked around.

There were more balloons in lavender, plum, and silver around the room with just a few extra accents of the same colors here and there. Not too over the top, like they promised.

Thank god.

If this was the extent of the damage in the decorating department, then I could handle this with no problem.

…But then I look over at the table in near the fireplace and start thinking I need to retract my previous statement.

_I didn't want them to go overboard with gifts instead!_

There was a stack of gifts that were all wrapped in silver and purple wrapping paper, and it was a pretty decent sized pile of gifts.

"You guys…" I start, but they cut me off with the look. "Oh come on." I turn and look at Edward. "Is this how they always are when they want something?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You get used to it. And trust me; you won't win that argument when Ma gets involved. You may as well just admit defeat while you're ahead, babe." He chuckled, and I almost went over there and hit him.

"Never." The three of them just laughed at my response, but I'm not gonna give in so easily. Not all the time, anyways.

I can't say 'no' to Esme, most of the time. I don't think anyone can, actually.

"Bella? Edward?" I heard Carlisle call before he entered the living room. "Oh good! You're here. Your mother has been asking if you're all here every two minutes. You might want to go let her know." He laughed as he walked over to me and hugged me. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."

I hugged him back. "Thank you, Carlisle."

"Come on. We'll go out back. That's where I last saw her." He motioned for us to follow him.

As we walked outside, we could see Esme putting some final touches around the deck and the large table that was set on it.

There were more balloons, and an elegant arrangement of different shades of purple and white flowers. Along with some coordinating silver, purple and white plates, cups, such.

I'm just glad there's not anything huge and gaudy. The balloons and streamers were plenty.

"Oh baby! I'm so happy you're finally here! Happy birthday, sweetie!" Esme squealed as she ran over to me.

She was wearing a very cute light brown maxi skirt, with a deep lavender tank top and a short-sleeved short white shawl on top. And she paired some brown flip flops with it.

I would have never thought I'd see a woman like Esme Cullen wearing flip flops. But I think that just adds to her awesomeness. She doesn't have to always be all over designer clothes and all that. She can have her relaxed side too.

Jasper came over too and wished me a happy birthday with a kiss to my cheek. So did Emmett. Then we all settled on the deck for a while and just talked.

Esme eventually told us that she was going to get lunch finished while the boys fired up the grill.

Esme had asked me what I would like for dinner on my birthday, and I told her it didn't matter. But she kept on me until I told her that I wouldn't mind having grilled chicken like we used to have when they were here years ago.

Luckily, they still did that kind of chicken, and I was excited for it. It wasn't exactly teriyaki chicken, but it was more like a sweet teriyaki Asian marinade. I wasn't sure what it really was, but that's what it tasted like. It was heavenly.

We had such a wonderful afternoon. We ate and laughed and played with the kids, and even watched Emmett get stuck in part of the obstacle course thing under Mason and Izzy's tree house.

And then Alice brought out the big guns.

"It's present time!" She cheered as she brought the stack of gifts out onto the back deck.

"You guys _really_ didn't have to do all of this." I looked at the stack of gifts like it was gonna bite me.

"Nonsense, baby. In this family, we don't do half assed. We make sure everyone's got something on their birthday, no matter what age. Go on and open them." Esme smiled encouragingly at me.

"Ooooh, Namie…." Izzy and Mason scolded, then I saw Esme hand Edward a few bills. Sheesh, those kids know how to milk that shit. But it was funny to watch.

"Fine." I said, grabbing the first gift and unwrapping it.

What was inside almost had me peeing myself.

"An iPad? Really?" I kind of got excited about that, but I knew how expensive they were.

"Of course! Now, we've already added some great apps on there, some music that Edward said you liked, and we've made a few photo albums on there of the kids, and Edward with the kids, and of the whole family. We wanted you to have your own history of the kids growing up, and Edward and Jasper through the years, and so on." Esme explained as I turned it on and went through it. It was amazing and I really couldn't thank them enough.

"Oh my god, thank you guys!" I looked around at them all.

"Hey! You can even facetime me when we're in Chicago! Whenever you wanna talk hun." Rose chimed in, flashing me her own Ipad that she had sitting beside her.

"Oh, that's a good idea. I can't wait to use it." I smiled at my family.

The next several gifts were accessories for the iPad; covers, screen protectors, docks, earphones, skins, you name it. And I loved everything they picked out.

They actually got me and my style.

The last gift had to be explained before I opened it.

"Ok, Bella, I know you told me that you wanted to learn this, so we all helped pick this out for you." Edward was the one to explain it to me.

I carefully opened the box and saw what was inside.

"MEEAAHH!" I sort of screeched when I saw the box that held a gun inside of it, almost dropping the box.

"Calm down, its ok. We're gonna teach you how to use it. It's a Baretta PX4. It should be good for you to handle. We'll go to the shooting range and show you how. Don't worry. But this is going to be _your_ gun. No one else's. We had your initials engraved on it too. And the grip was specially done in a black and silver and deep lavender camouflage. So it's uniquely yours, baby." Edward said, holding onto my trembling hand.

I looked at the gun box, and the things that went with it; belt holsters, leg holsters, shoulder strap holsters, gun cleaning kit, gun case, everything.

They went and bought me a gun so I could protect myself. I could start getting my fears under control and have confidence in myself. So if I ever had a run in with Jacob, I could defend myself. Mind you, it won't do much if he's got his goons with him, but I can at least feel like I've got a shot at getting out alive. Or if it came to any other mobsters that wanted to mess with me.

I just hope I didn't freeze up if it came to that.

I looked around at them once again, and tried to convey with my eyes my gratefulness. "Thank you all, so much. This… this is truly a wonderful gift." I felt a tear run down my face.

"It's ok, sweetheart. You'll do fine. Alice and Rose were scared out of their minds the first time they handled a gun. You don't have to worry. Edward will be right there with you, so will Jasper. If you want, Alice would probably be willing to go with you, too." Esme said as we both looked over to Alice, who nodded her head. "See? You'll have loads of support around you. All you have to do is ask any of us, and we'll be right there with you. You'll do great, honey." She smiled and patted my hand that she was holding.

I nodded at her and smiled back. "I just have to get used to it. My… Charlie, tried to teach me how to hunt when I was eleven, with his hunting rifle, and let's just say it wasn't the best idea for me to try it on a gun that size." I laughed at the memory of myself almost falling on my ass from the kickback of the rifle. I told Charlie that I was never touching that damn thing again.

"Oh dear. That was probably the worst thing for you to learn on. This kind that we got for you is much easier to handle, and the kickback isn't too bad. With a little practice, you'll probably be a better shot that these boys." She winked at me and I had to laugh at the guffaws and protests that came from Emmett, Jasper, Edward and Carlisle.

"Thank you all, again. This was really sweet of you all to think of something like this for me. It's really a beautiful gun." I said, as I opened the lid on the box to look at it. The barrel and trigger area were all in black, but the handle was done in the silver, black and purple camo. "I'm glad you guys get my thing with purple."

Esme waved it off. "Oh honey, everyone has their signature color. Alice's is any form of blue; Rose has a thing for black and white paired together, but loves red. Me, I love green and purple. Izzy loves blue and purple. The boys… well we'll leave it to the girls. They don't really have a preference. They just wear whatever they like." She laughed.

"Hey, I like blue. Sometimes green too." Edward chimed in.

"Blue!" Carlisle and Jasper both said and raised their hands at the same time, causing us all to laugh.

"I like green!" Mason interjected from where he was chasing Izzy around on the deck.

Emmett slowly raised his hand. "Uh, I think I'm the one that doesn't care which color. Besides, everything looks awesome on me." He smirked, swiping invisible dust off of his shoulder, and then flinched when Rose smacked him. "Ouch! Ro, come on."

It ended up being a perfect birthday… save for the fact that neither of my parents called to wish me a happy birthday, and all I got from Charlotte and Garrett was a 'happy birthday' post on facebook.

What a wonderful family, huh?

Screw 'em. I don't need them.

We spent most of the afternoon with Edward's family, just being together and reconnecting. It was so wonderful to be back up to speed on everything with the family that I had missed so much all these years. At the end of the evening, it felt like they'd never been gone.

When Edward drove us back to the hotel, he asked if we could stay together tonight. I didn't even hesitate, and said yes. I wanted his comforting touch tonight, because I'm still a bit upset about my family.

I'm just gonna try to put it to the back of my mind right now, and focus on being with Edward, Mason and Izzy, and getting MY life started here.

And that's exactly what I did.

Over the next two months, I helped Edward get the club stuff finalized and setup how he wanted it. We got all of the shirts in for everyone that was working there. It was really stylish and modern how Edward had things set up around the building. The specified bar area was in a smaller area, where it actually looked like a bar, not a club. There was a large bar, tons of bar stools, high bar tables, very subtle lighting. It was done in blues, and black, and grey all around. This made in inviting.

The club area was very hip. A bar was on one side of the room, while there were silver colored tufted sofa seating all the way around the walls. Behind the seating on the walls, were flowing tree branches painted in white against the black color of the walls. There were white tables interspersed around the seating area as well, while there were lots of columns, in a circular formation around the dance floor, that were white in color, but were lit from the top and bottom with a muted blue-ish white light. The blue-ish white lights were also along the edges of the walls. The dance floor was very open and large, with plenty of space. There was a recessed ceiling, that was circular, that followed contour form of the dance floor, with more of the painted tree branches in the recessed area to the higher ceiling.

It was really stunning in there.

'Bella Notte' opened to a huge crowd; everyone wanted to be able to get in on the opening weekend. It was obviously wildly popular and well publicized before it even opened.

I had asked Edward about the name of the club, and he swore that he had had it picked out before he even found me. He'd had a vision of it, and wanted the club to reflect his idea. The name meant 'beautiful night', and he wanted a modern play on it for the club.

And I think he created it, perfectly.

He got in trouble for the name he had put on my shirt, though.

_Bella Regina_.

Yeah, he got it when I figured out what it said. It took me a moment of looking at it, but then I jumped up, ran over to him and jumped on his back and gave him a purple nurple.

He didn't like it, obviously, but knew he deserved some retribution.

He still insisted that it was who I was.

And I let it slide. If it made him happy, and only a few people knew what it meant, then I was ok with it.

He and I have gotten much closer over the past couple of months, too. We've gotten to where four days out of the week, we're having a 'sleepover' at one of our places. We've also gotten a little bit more physical. We still haven't had sex, but we've fooled around a bit. I've been letting myself get comfortable around the opposite sex before I take that step. For right now, we're both ok with how our relationship is going. We're not rushing it; we're hanging out with each other, with the kids, his family. We're learning everything possible about each other; our habits, what we like to eat, our music tastes, movies, books, anything and everything. We could probably tell you just about anything about the other person.

The kids have been so sweet, too. And amazingly understanding. They don't ask questions when Edward says that they're coming down to my place to stay the night. They actually ask him some nights if they can. And there have been some nights that he's been called away and he brought them down to stay with me. I don't mind. I love those two like they were my own. I've even made sure their drawers are filled with clothes for them when they come to stay. Edward even has a few odd and end things in my room, as well.

I know it seems like we should just move in together, but we'll get there, soon. I wanted to adjust to being away from Forks first, so I could feel like my life isn't just about doing everything for my mom, dad or siblings. And be somewhere that I'm at least appreciated and cared for.

Edward, Jasper and Alice took me to the shooting range that they had on the property at Esme and Carlisle's. I never knew exactly how much land they had, but let me tell you it was a TON. Acres upon acres and their nearest neighbor was a good mile or two away.

I had been terrified of holding the gun, but once Edward taught me how to hold it, and how to stand and aim, I felt a little better about it.

I had been on the phone with Rosalie earlier that day, and she told me; "Bella, just picture the target is Jacob Black, and you'll be sure to hit it."

And the first shot I took, I hit the target in the neck. Not bad for my first time.

It became a lot easier after the first day of learning, and I actually found it rather relaxing. It was a good way to get out my frustrations.

And I had really grown to love Seattle. I never thought I would, but it's grown on me.

I hadn't heard from my parents since I left, either. I guess Renee had a chip on her shoulders about me 'just up and leaving her'. I was going to go back and visit her, but she's just been so… bitter. God help she's on facebook, and she's friends with all of her children. That's the only way I know she's still alive because she sure as hell hasn't called me, and I'm not going to call her or Charlie until one of them gets their head out of their ass.

But I guess one of them decided to…

I was playing with Izzy and Mason at my place while Edward, Jasper and Carlisle were off handling 'business', when my phone rang.

I looked at the screen and saw that it was my mother.

"Hello?" I answered hesitantly.

"Isabella… how's Seattle?" Ah, great. Nice move with the small talk.

"Why don't you just skip the bull, Renee, and tell me why you called? It can't be to wish me happy birthday, because that was two months ago. So what do you want?" I was getting irritated because I was still pissed.

"Look, Isabella. I was angry that you were just moving away and not thinking what that would do to me. All of my children have left me, and I have no help. What am I suppose to do?"

"You grow up and ask for help. Charlie grows the hell up and takes his wedding vows seriously, instead of as an obligation. You know if Garrett and Char were in anyway concerned, then they would sit down and talk to me about a schedule of weekends that one of us could come and visit you and check on you. But they're too hung up in their own lives, and I've got a life of my own too. So I can't always just drop everything and come running." I tell her in exacerbation.

"I know, but it's almost Thanksgiving and you know I always have the tree put up then. So I was hoping that you could come and help me get the stuff out of the attic, sometime. And I was wondering if you would be joining us for dinner Thanksgiving night." And the guilt trip is starting. I can feel it.

I rub my hand up and down my forehead. "No, Renee, I won't be making it this year for Thanksgiving. Tell everyone I'm sorry I couldn't be there. But I'm spending the holidays with the Cullens. But I'll try to find a weekend to come and do it." I really hated it when I got guilted into her shit. Because the next thing out of her mouth is going to be some form of 'never mind, I'll do it myself'. It always is.

"Isabella Thanksgiving is in a week, I need to get this done now. I've always had it done by then." She had that irritated tone in her voice.

"Gah, come on." I exhaled, and thought about my schedule. It was Saturday, and I was off tomorrow. And I had to work all this week, so I might as well get it out of the way. "Look, I'll come by there tomorrow and see what I can do. I don't know why you can't wait a week or two, but fine. I'll let you know when I'm almost there, tomorrow."

"Ok, I'll see you then. Bye." Then she hung up.

I just stared at the phone for a full minute. She still didn't say a damn thing about my birthday, no 'I'm sorry', or 'thank you for coming'. Nothing.

I tossed the phone on the counter and ran my hands over my face. "Why do I even bother with these people?"

"What's wrong, Mommy B?" I heard Mason ask, and I looked up to see a worried look on his face.

"Nothing, baby. Umm, how would you and Iz like to go back to Forks? I need to go there tomorrow to see my mom. Would you two like to go back to the park there?" I asked them, knowing I had them for the rest of today, and most of tomorrow.

Edward and the men were trying to do recon in La Push on the Blacks, and Mason, Izzy and I were having some bonding time. I guess it wouldn't be terrible if I brought the kids with me… as long as Charlie wasn't there.

I don't need his shit.

They both started nodding their heads. "Will daddy be back to go with us?" Izzy asked.

"I doubt it, sweetheart. Daddy's still gonna be working through the day tomorrow, so it'll just be us, ok? We'll even see if Aunt Ali can maybe come with us, though. How does that sound?" I asked them as I was getting some stuff sorted for dinner.

"Yeah! That'd be fun!" they both said.

So I called Alice at her shop.

She told me she couldn't make it because they got a shipment in tonight, and would have to spend the day tomorrow putting things out on shelves. She was also on shift tonight at the club while I had the kids. Esme was also going into the club to make sure everything is running smooth tonight.

So I find myself on Sunday, buckling the kids into the back seat of the Volvo, since Edward took the suburban with the guys.

"Mommy B, can we listen to music on the way there?" Izzy asked as I settled into the driver seat.

"Sure, baby girl. Anything specific?" I asked as i synced the iPad to the Volvo's system.

"No. Just anything."

"You got it, sweetie." I hit the shuffle and let the music start for our long drive.

We got out onto the Seattle streets, with the ever present SUV behind me.

Edward had finally told me about Stefan and Alistair, my bodyguards. I kept asking him why I needed two, but he just reassured me that it was necessary.

Whatever. As long as the kids are safe, that's all I care about.

We were almost halfway to Forks, when I noticed Stefan and Alistair fall back in their SUV. That was weird, because they never left my tail when I was driving.

I figured it out when there was gunfire, and another SUV come flying around the one Stefan was driving.

"Shit." I hissed under my breath.

Now was not the time to panic.

The in car phone rang and I pressed the button on the steering wheel to answer it.

"Stefan, what's going on?" I asked, trying to not let the kids hear the fear in my voice.

"B, get the camo, and use it if need be. We've got two SUV's, we're trying to lose one, but the other one got around us. The back seats have been outfitted with Kevlar, so get them down as low as they can so they aren't hit." He told me, basically saying to get the kids hunched down behind the bulletproofed seats, and use my gun if I had to.

So not how I wanted to spend my Sunday.

"Stefan…." I asked in a wary voice.

Stefan was a good guy. Very sweet, very much the brotherly type. We'd had a few conversations together, and he seemed to know if I was upset, or needed something.

"Just keep going. We'll catch up to you in a minute." He said, and then the line went dead.

Shit, shit, shit….

Ok, stay calm.

"Hey guys, can you do me a favor? Grab that blanket and cover yourselves. I want you to crouch down far enough in the seat that no one could possibly see you from the back window. Try to stay quiet. You remember how daddy said he has to deal with bad people?" I asked, and saw them nod as they grabbed hold of the blanket they use to cuddle up with in the car when it's cold. "Well there are a couple of them following us, and I don't know what they want. So I want you to stay out of sight, and as quiet as you can. I know it might be a little scary. But hopefully this will be over soon." I told them as I saw the other SUV speeding up on my tail.

"Fuck." I hissed as they tapped the bumper of the Volvo from behind and I heard the kids cry.

That had me seeing red.

It was one thing if it was just me, but the kids are in the car with me and they have the nerve to try and hurt innocent children?

Fuck them!

I tried some defensive driving I'd always been kind of prone to over the years. You know, stupid drivers on the road have to be avoided sometimes.

They kept hitting the back of the car, and then came up beside me on the driver side.

I was terrified they were going to start shooting. I had kids in the back seat, and was freaking out that they'd get hit by a stray round. But then the SUV slammed into the side of me, forcing me off the road. We were driving through a heavily wooded area at the time, so I was shocked when we didn't hit a tree right away.

I tried hitting the breaks, but it wasn't very useful. We kept pushing through brush and trees, and I felt the side of the car swipe the trunk of a tree, but still didn't stop.

Then I felt the car tipping over.

"Mase! Iz! Hold on to something!" I could hear them crying in the backseat and I was helpless to do anything for them.

I'm not sure how many times the car flipped over, but it finally landed on the driver's side, kind of at an angle, and I felt my head hit the side of the car. I felt the airbags deploy at some point, but it didn't seem like they were helping with the amount of pain I was feeling.

"Mommy! Momma!" I could hear Mason and Izzy crying from their seats, but I was too disoriented at the moment.

I could feel blood trickling down the side of my face and pain everywhere.

"Mase… Izzy… my babies…" I tried to call to them, but it felt like my voice was under water. I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>*runs and hides* I'm sooooooo sorry that I left it there, but I had to. You guys had to know I was gonna do something like that, by now.<p>

Don't worry, I'll get the next chapters up as soon as I can. Edward's side will be important in the next chapter or 2 of MBEB. This area is gonna be a little harder for me to work on because I want to go back and forth between the two characters, but I don't want to mess it up by meshing the 2 sides. Still gonna work on that. You'll know next week for sure.

Stay with me. I promise, you'll get some answers along the way. We'll also get some shocking news later on in the story. Hehehehehe

Until next week

Laters!


	19. Chapter 19

Hello all my lovely people! I know, I'm here! I'm a day early because Friday I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. You guys that read MBEB know this, but I'm doing a big birthday cake for my nephew this weekend, and I don't do half-assed. We're going big with it. Lol so I decided to get this one out to you guys now. It's a little shorter than usual, but it's where I wanted to cut it off, and I'll have one or the other posted next week.

And I'm seriously surprised at the current number of reviews for this story. 518? Just WOW! Kepp em coming. you know i love them:)

You guys really responded with the last chapter. I'm impressed. And those of you that got to read MBEB that posted on Tuesday, you really got a good look at the situation and what's going on. Seriously, if you're not reading that side, READ IT! You're missing soooo so much right now.

And there's a little twist coming up. I know you guys are gonna be going nuts again with this one, but that's just how I roll.

You know I told you guys that I've been waiting for a part of the story that I reeeaaaalllllllly wanted to get to, to write? Well, this is the part that I've been dying to get to. I'm so excited about it! It's gonna get goooooood!

So as usual, Lola is the awesome beta, and bestestes (yes, I went there). Muahs :)

And of course, as usual, SM owns twilight.

Read on!

* * *

><p>BPOV<p>

I can hear crying.

It's faint, but I hear it.

…..

I start to hear small, scared voices.

"Mommy, please wake up. Don't leave us." Was that Izzy?

…..

…..

I'm just feeling an epic amount of pain right now, and I don't even know exactly where it's originating from. It just hurts all over.

…..

…..

I started feeling like I could semi-focus on Izzy's small, scared voice, near me.

_How did she get right here beside me? I thought she was in the backseat of the car._

"Momma, please. I'm scared. I don't want you to go away. We just got you, please don't leave." She sniffled.

It keeps feeling like I'm going in and out of a tunnel, and it's so disorienting. The things I'm hearing just keep floating in and out of focus.

But there is one thing for sure, I heard Izzy and Mason loud and clear when they started screaming.

"NO! You're not taking her! MOMMY! NO, MOMMA! Mase, help!" I heard Izzy's frantic voice.

"LEAVE MY MOM ALONE! You can't take her away! Ouch!" I heard Mason, but couldn't see him.

I tried call out to them, but I don't even know if the words came out of my mouth so they could hear. "My babies…" It also felt like I was moving.

Where was I going?

….

….

~The Izzy and Mason Chronicles~

We stayed curled up with Mommy for a while, then we heard footsteps in the crunching leaves.

Mason and I both got really quiet, even though I was still crying.

We saw a man poke his head in front of the windshield and look into the car, seeing us there with momma.

He looked a little confused.

When he stood back up, it looked like he pushed someone else.

"You dumbass! The kids weren't supposed to be with her! Now the boss is gonna have our fucking heads!" That guy wasn't very nice.

"Look, just get the bitch, and let's get the hell out of here. We don't have a lot of time before they show up." The other guy said, and then the first man turned around and kicked in the windshield.

I screamed, and turned away from all of the flying glass, with Mason.

When we turned back around, the first man was unbuckling mommy.

"NO! You're not taking her! MOMMY! NO, MOMMA! Mase, help!" I yelled, trying to get him to let go of her, and hitting the man's arm.

Mason saw what was going on and tried to help.

"LEAVE MY MOM ALONE! You can't take her away! Ouch!" He yelled too, but the other man came over and slapped Mason.

"My babies…" I barely could hear what mommy was saying.

"Both of you shut up! If you want to stay alive, sit down and be quiet! We're not here for you." He said, then the other guy pulled momma out of the car. She still wasn't moving much. "Now, you're gonna be good and stay here. I really don't want to have to kill you two today."

I jumped back over to Mason and wrapped my arms around him, and buried my face in his chest.

"Good, now stay quiet, and this'll all be over soon." The man said, then he was gone, but I could still hear the crunching of the leaves fading away.

"What are we gonna do, Mason?" I asked in a small, scared voice.

"We're gonna wait for daddy, Iz. He'll find us, then he'll get mommy back." Mason said, trying to sound strong, but I knew he was just as scared as I was.

"You promise?" I whispered.

"Promise."

BPOV

It must have been a while later when I finally was able to open my eyes.

It took me a few minutes, but I found that I was in the back of an SUV. Probably one of the ones that was chasing us.

My body was sore as hell, but it didn't seem like I had any broken bones.

That was a plus.

I just seemed to be bruised a good bit, and cut up some.

I looked to the side, and saw Seth standing there.

He looked over at me when he felt my eyes on him.

"Sorry Bella. But you must've pissed someone off. I'm just following orders." He said, sounding almost guilty, but not enough to let me out of here.

Asshole.

"Where are my kids?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"They were left with the car. Your boyfriend was on the way when they came and got you out, so I'm sure he found them." He said and turned back around to face the outside of the SUV.

"Seth, please. Don't do this…" I tried to beg, but I knew he was too loyal to Jacob.

"I can't do anything to help you. Just don't fight him. I mean if he tries to… you know, fight him then, but I don't think he's gonna do anything right away. He needs you out of the way."

Shit. What am I gonna do?

"Well if it isn't little Isabella Swan. Are you finally done whoring yourself to Cullen?" That fucking voice. I never wanted to hear it again.

I turned my head to look behind Seth, and saw him standing there, with a shit-eating grin on his face.

At first, I was terrified of him being here. But I had to believe that Edward would come and find me. And I needed to keep my head about me, and not let this asshole get to me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Fuck off, Black. I have nothing to say to you."

"Ooh, she's got fire now. I like that. It'll be more fun for me." He walked over and ran his finger down my cheek, to which I yanked my face away.

"Don't touch me." I gritted out.

Jacob just grabbed my chin and crashed his lips to mine.

God, I wanted to puke. This wasn't like Edward. This was forceful and rough, where Edward was soft and loving.

When he pulled away, he smirked.

I really wanted to smack the shit out of him.

"If you don't die first, we'll have some fun when this is all over with. I'll get to finish what I started with you." He pulled me to him from the back of the SUV and grabbed onto my ass, running his hand down between my legs.

I struggled away from him, which just made him grab onto me tighter, and he started laughing.

"Jake man, leave her alone. We don't have time for this. We gotta get going." I heard Seth say from behind him, which I was thankful for.

Jacob finally let go of me, and turned to Seth. "Fine, let's get this show on the road." Then he turned and looked back at me. "Sweet dreams, Isabella." He smirked then walked off.

That was when I noticed Seth again and he had a rag in his hand.

He looked up at me apologetically. "Sorry, Bella." He said, and then forced the rag over my mouth, plunging me into darkness, again.

….

….

When I woke up again, it was to the sound of ocean waves.

_Wait, what?!_

I blinked my eyes open, and tried to focus on my surroundings.

Yep, I was on some sort of beach. But where the fuck was the beach located?

When I was finally able to sit up and move, I looked around better to see things, but I didn't see any other people.

Weird. Beaches usually are full of people, especially one that are this beautiful.

The sun was making my head hurt, and I grabbed the sides of my head, and realized what was there.

I gently poked at it and noticed it was bandaged up and felt like it maybe had stitches.

Well at least Black's not a complete and utter douche-nozzle.

It probably wasn't his doing, though. It was probably Seth. He seemed a little worried about me.

As I got up and started walking around, I saw how tropical this place was. It was really stunning; palm trees, white sandy beaches, clear blue water, and lush trees. It would normally be a paradise, but I don't even know where this island is, where Black is even at, or when he's coming for me. And I don't know how long it's been since the accident.

God, I hope Izzy and Mason are ok. They were so fucking scared, and I couldn't focus on anything to help them.

I felt like a horrible mother. I should have protected them better.

As I kept walking, I never saw another single person here. I walked for what felt like hours, and then noticed that it looked like I was back to the same spot I found myself waking up.

Fuck. So this must be an island. A deserted island, from the looks of it.

_Shit!_ I thought, as I sat down on the sand and put my arms over my knees.

Black did this. He took me away from my family. I don't know why yet. I just hope he didn't come back. I'd rather stay here, than be subjected to…whatever he wants from me. This seems to be pretty obvious.

I rested my head on my arms, and for the first time in a while, I prayed.

_God, please let my kids be ok. Let Edward know that I love him with all my heart. And please let him find me before it's too late._

* * *

><p>Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry! *runs and hides again* *peeks out to look* you know I love you guys, right?<p>

You guys that read MBEB, I BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING! Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe he

So obviously, I gave away the surprise for the next chapter of MBEB, but at least you weren't left with questions with the next one :D

I will see you guys, one way or the other, so until then,

Laters!


	20. Chapter 20

Hey you guys!

Oh my god, I still just can't get over all the reviews you guys are giving me. Some of you are sharing personal stories with me and I can relate and empathize with you guys. It's so hard to see the people you love hurt, whether it's an illness, car accident, death, hospitalization, whatever. It's hard to deal with and anyone that can keep their head up and say 'I'm ok' while dealing with something like that, then you're incredibly strong.

And if I haven't replied back to some of your reviews, I'm sorry. I'm trying to get to all of them. But as a whole, thank you for reading and sending a review. You're all awesome!

With that said, if anyone DOESN'T like this story, don't waste your time, or mine, by leaving a review that, in my opinion, is pretty shitty. If you don't like it and don't want to read it, THEN DON'T READ IT! It's that simple. I don't go and leave bad reviews for stories that I read, that I don't like. To me, it shows bad form. Those of you that are thinking about leaving those kind of reviews, think about this; would you like someone to leave that kind of review for something that you pour your heart into? If that's a no, then just don't leave a review. I'd rather not have a review in my inbox, than to get one that says that someone is over a story, and will never read it again. I hate having to leave these in my author's notes, because I have sooooo many of you wonderful people that support me, and are literally on the edge of your seats for another chapter. So from now on, this is a 'no negativity area'. As I've said, if you don't like it, don't read it. It's as simple as that.

Alright, now that that's dealt with, I know you guys were freaking out after the last chapter, and I totally understand. But if you haven't figured it out by now, I have a thing for leaving a chapter hanging. I'm just evil like that. Lol but you guys know I love you and I'll get these chapters out to you as fast as possible. Especially for this part of the story. That's why you're getting it today.

And I'm still telling you guys, if you're not reading MBEB, then you've gotta go read it. You're missing valuable info. And a lot of you thought Charlie got off lightly, but you'll have to wait and see if we have any more problems with him. He really is an asshole. And I know you're all worried about Izzy and Mason, but Edward was right, getting Bella home would be the best medicine for them.

This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but that's where I had to leave it off. I've gotta jump over to MBEB, then I'll be back here. The up side is; shorter chapters, quicker updates. Take that as a good thing. Lol

Oh, and I had a reviewer that asked me what 'Bella Regina' meant, and I just realized that I didn't put a translation up for that. That's my bad. So the translation is 'Beautiful Queen'. So Edward is basically calling her his beautiful queen. Hope that clears that up for you guys. Sorry again.

Did I miss anything else, you guys? If I did, put it in a review, and I'll address it next time.

Anywho, you know the drill, Lola is my amazing beta, and SM owns Twilight.

And thanks to everyone who voted for this story and for Laurie! We both appreciate it so much!

Read on!

* * *

><p>BPOV<p>

I'm starting to hate being on this island.

It may be incredibly beautiful, but the fact that I was run off a road, ripped away from my kids, drugged, and dropped off here, alone, kind of made that null and void.

I'm going to murder Jacob Black myself when I get my hands on him.

Why the fuck was I here in the first place?

I mean really, he sent me to an island, and just left me here… Doesn't really reek of genius to me.

I've spent the last few days exploring the island, cautiously. I don't know anything about where I'm at, so there could be anacondas in the trees for all I know.

So far though, I've only found lizards, a couple of different monkeys, one of which was the cutest little thing I've ever seen, a lot of beautiful birds, I think I saw a koala, dolphins off in the water, a few chinchillas, and some sea turtles.

I've also sat on each side of the island to look and see if there were any other islands close by, or if there were any passing boats so I could get the fuck out of here.

So far, nothing.

Edward had Jasper put a chip in my phone, but I don't have my phone with me here. I don't even know if it would work wherever the hell it is that I'm at.

And I'm starting to get frustrated.

Why isn't Edward here yet?

Is he dead?

Is that part of why I was taken? So that I was out of the way for Jacob to get to Edward?

But if that were the case, then why not take Mason and Izzy too…

None of it made sense.

I just hoped that Edward was able to beat the information out of Black about where I am. I miss my family so much. I need to see Mason and Izzy so I know they're ok. And I need to see Edward to know he's still alive, too.

I was, however, grateful that I was left in the clothes I wore when I was in the accident.

When we left the hotel that morning, I had been wearing some black skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt, long tan and grey cardigan, and light brown knee high boots.

I was thankful that Black hadn't stripped me out of my clothes. And I think I had Seth to thank for that, even if he couldn't help me out of this mess.

I used my cardigan as a pillow each night, trying to get a little bit more comfortable in the sand. It helped a little, but I still couldn't sleep well. I tossed and turned, and then would just stare up at the stars; hoping that if I counted them, it would lull me to sleep.

I was going to start losing count of the days soon if I didn't get the hell out of here. I think it had already been about a week, but I wasn't sure when I was taken, and how it added up with the days I'd been here.

I was still hurting all over, a little bit, from the accident, too. Nothing felt broken, but I was sore as hell. There were some bruises on my arms and legs, one big one from where the seat belt held me in, a few little cuts here and there. I had no mirror, so I didn't know how my face faired, but it felt like it was fine, aside from the large cut on my forehead.

While I was searching around the island, I found some fruit to eat. Some bananas in a couple of trees, and a pineapple plant.

The pineapple was kind of hard to peal, but I finally just found a tree that the bark was porous enough to shed that outer layer of it. Once that was off, I just went to town on that thing. It was so good after going a couple of days with nothing.

I also found a small fresh water spring, which I couldn't have been happier to find.

But I really just wanted to get the hell out of here.

I hadn't seen any sign of Black or his men since I've been here, either. Hopefully it'd stay that way until Edward came to get me.

I'm trying to stay out of the trees today, because yesterday, I had a little encounter with and angry monkey.

I don't know if I threatened it, or its baby, or something, but when I was walking through the trees, it started hissing at me and throwing things.

I didn't have a clue what its problem was, so I ran out of there, and didn't go back in.

Creepy little fucker.

There was also a small lagoon that I've been using to wash up in, as well. It's not far from the fresh water spring I found, so it was easy to make a trip in, get washed up, get a drink of water, see if there is any fruit in the trees, and do a little exploring in the area.

I didn't really want to get too far away from this main area that held all of my resources, but I at least needed to make a walk around to see if there were any boats passing by.

I decided that today, I was gonna go back in to the trees, and get washed up, get some water, and make my way around the island to do my usual scanning of the horizons. It may not be much, but I can't just sit here the whole time and do nothing.

So after I had done my business in the woods, I started walking my path I had made around the beaches of the island, keeping a lookout at the water.

And praying I'd see something today.

I was almost halfway around the other side of the island, when I started hearing what I could only describe as oinking.

So that meant there were pigs here too…

My first thought was 'ham sandwich', but then I'd also heard to stay away from wild pigs. They were very unpredictable.

I kept walking, hoping that wherever they were at, that they would stay there and I'd be on my way.

Boy was I wrong…

About a hundred yards down the beach, I saw one standing at the edge of the tree line.

This thing looked like a cross between a pig, a coyote, and a werewolf. It kind of freaked me the hell out. It was still about the size of a regular pig, but it was still strange.

I'd never seen one like this before. It even had little tusks, and that had me more frightened then anything.

Those thing could do some damage.

I just stood there, staring at the damn thing, hoping it would go away.

No such luck.

In fact, another one came out from the trees and joined the first one.

Shit, this won't be good.

I had heard that you shouldn't show fear when faced with a wild animal, or to look them in the eye.

The first one, I could understand, but the second, I'm not sure. But I still tried.

Then I saw a tiny little pig standing behind the momma pig, and I knew this wasn't going to end well.

I started backing up, slowly, hoping that they would just let it go and get back to what they were doing, but I guess pigs aren't level headed.

As soon as I was about ten feet from my original spot, the other pig started charging at me.

I screamed and turned around and ran like my ass was on fire.

I got about fifteen feet, before I felt something sharp grab hold of my leg, and I fell to the ground.

"Fuck!" that little bastard had sharp teeth.

God damn it that hurts! I started screaming, thrashing and kicking with my other leg at the pig. Anything to get him to let go.

He just kept biting at me and yanking my leg around like it was a rag doll.

And I guess it wasn't enough that one pig had to attack me; the momma pig had to get in on the action too.

Bitch!

She came running up and grabbed hold of my wrist, and started doing the same as the pig was doing to my leg.

And it hurt. Immensely so. It burned and felt like my arm and leg were being shredded.

I guess I finally got a good kick in, and the pig that was on my leg let out a yelp, and let go. The other pig let go too, and they scampered off with their little spawn, and I was still screaming and crying.

Fuck, what am I gonna do?

I can barely move, but I need to see what kind of damage is done.

With tears still streaming down my face, and sobs ripping through my throat, I tried sitting up, but it wasn't really working.

I was in too much pain to move. So I moved my head a little to look at my arm.

There was blood. Lots of blood.

Another sob ripped through me.

Maybe I shouldn't be taking inventory of my injuries right now. But fuck, I've gotta get somewhere and get cleaned up, and see if I can bandage these wounds up, somehow.

But that's not happening right now.

Just seeing the blood on my arm is making me lightheaded and queasy.

I think I need to lie down…

Wait, I am laying down.

Ugh, not good. Not good at all.

The last thing I remember before it went black was,

_Edward, where are you?_

* * *

><p>I'm guessing you guys didn't see that coming either?<p>

I'm sorry, you guys know I can't help it. It's how I roll.

Soooo, leave some love. And I'll see you as soon as the next chapter's ready.

Laters all my lovelies.


	21. Chapter 21

Hiya everyone!

Wow, responses from the last chapter of MGEMP and MBEB are getting interesting. A lot of you that read MBEB are really close on the answer of who was in the apartment. But that's only a small little part of the bigger picture. I'm still trying to decide where I'm gonna start the next chapter of MBEB, but I have a couple of ideas. So we'll see how it turns out. And it turns out, there was only one person who got the location of where he was taking her right. Kudos to _Savory_! And I went with your advice on this too. *Smiles*

And I figured since I've been totally cliffing you guys for the last few chapters, I'm giving y'all a 'recuperative' chapter.

I'll finish everything else I have to say at the bottom, so meet me there.

As per the usual, Lola is my beta and hopefully soon to be published novelist. Yay! Muahs

And SM owns the twilight. Not me.

Read on!

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><p>BPOV<p>

_Why am I hearing voices?_

Seriously, the last thing I remember is being on the island, alone. How am I hearing people's voi-?

Oh god. Did Black come back for me?

I start panicking.

I'm so worried that he's gonna make good on his threat…

But then I listen to the voices a little closer, and realize something.

Edward's here.

It's then I realize something else.

I'm in a huge amount of pain.

I groan at the feeling in my right arm and leg.

_Fuck!_

I want to scream and cry and hit something right now, I'm in so much pain.

"Bella?! Baby, are you awake?" Oh my god, I thought I'd never hear that voice again.

I must be conscious enough because I feel myself let out a sob at hearing him.

"Oh baby, I'm here. I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner. I promise I won't let it happen again. I'm so fucking sorry, Bella." I heard the pain in his voice and it just made me want to cry even harder.

I fight with my eyes for a while and force them to open so I can see where he is. I need to see him.

When my eyes finally focus enough on him, they fill with tears.

"Edward!" I cry trying to reach my hand out to him.

He's right there, grabbing onto me, pulling me into a hug that is almost crushing.

"God, baby, I was so scared I wouldn't find you." Edward murmured into my hair.

I clutch onto him with my good hand, and am now noticing that my right hand is wrapped up and in bandages.

Then I remember the pigs.

I let out another sob, remembering how I thought I'd never see Edward or the kids again when those pigs attacked me.

"Shhh, sweetheart. It's ok. I've got you. You're safe now." He soothed me, rubbing his hands up and down my back in a calming motion.

It seemed to help a little bit.

I pulled back and looked at his face, making sure I hadn't forgotten how beautiful he was while I was gone.

Then I reached up and attached my lips to his. I needed to feel that warmth and love that his kisses could bring me.

When I needed air to breath, I pulled back and rested my head against his for a moment.

"I was so scared Edward. So scared…" I whispered, trying not to go back into a crying fit.

"I know, B. I know. Mason and Izzy haven't been the same since the accident either. They've been so afraid you were never coming back. But I promised them I'd find you and bring you home." He said as he helped me lay back down in the bed I hadn't noticed I was in.

It was then I looked around and saw that I was in a room that I didn't recognize. It looked kind of old worldish, like stepping back in time.

"Where are they? I wanna see them. Are they ok?" I asked him, worried that the kids had been hurt in the accident.

"They're ok. They've been a little shaken up, and Mason hasn't talked much, but they're fine. They're on their way here. We had to find a way to get them away from Seattle without anybody seeing where they were going." He explained to me as he got in beside me and curled me up into his arms.

"Where exactly is here?" I asked, since I was pretty sure we weren't in Washington.

"Charleston. South Carolina. Remember Rose was born here. We're on a plantation that her family had passed down over the years since the Civil War. When her parents died, they left it to her, but she hasn't been back here much. She's had people keeping it up, though. No one really knows about her having this place, so no one should be able to find you or the kids here. This is the last place someone would come to look for you, until I can deal with Black, once and for all." At the mention of Black, I tense up. "Hey, I'm not gonna let him get to you again. Baby, I promise you."

"I know. I just…" I shake my head trying to get his image out of my head. That evil shit eating grin he had on his face the last time I saw him.

Bleh.

"Edward, you need to ask her." I jump a little at hearing Alistair's voice from the doorway.

Edward's brow furrows a bit, and he turns to look at me with concern in his eyes.

"B, Black didn't… force himself on you, did he?" he asked, hesitantly.

I shuddered at the thought. Just remembering how he touched me, made me wanna puke.

"…No, he didn't rape me. But he definitely insinuated that he would when he came back for me. He kissed me and felt me up when I woke up in an SUV somewhere in a warehouse or something after the accident. But he never went any further." I told him quietly, not wanting that thought to even manifest into anything further.

He pulled me closer to him, his arms tightening around me.

I saw Alistair walk further into the room and get something that looked like it might be a light and brought it over to the side of the bed.

"I need to check you over, now that you're awake. Do you have any pain, or anything other than the cuts on your arm and leg?" Alistair asked, turning the little light on.

"No, nothing really. It's pretty much just my arm that's in the most pain. My leg doesn't feel as bad, but it still hurts like hell. Other than that, I think I'm good. Maybe just a little hungry." My stomach decided to make itself known by growling.

They both laughed at that, and then Alistair started his examination.

After checking me over, and telling me that I was fine other than my obvious injuries, Alistair told me that I had to take it easy for a while. And that they're still watching for any lingering effects of an infection. So far they haven't seen any, except for the fact that I apparently was mumbling nonsense and spiking a fever a couple of times while I was unconscious.

That got me thinking.

"How long, exactly, was I out for?" I asked, hoping that it wasn't a very long time, because then I would probably flip out.

Alistair sat down on the edge of the bed and started talking. "When we found you, it didn't seem like it had been more than maybe five to six hours since you had been attacked by the boars. And since then, you've been out for just about two days. You may not remember, but we've been giving you broth and Gatorade through a straw to get something in your system. Your body's gonna be weak for a while, and these cuts are going to need to be tended to everyday. But it's a good thing I'll be staying here with you. Stefan will be here soon, too, to keep an eye on things. Along with a few other guards, just so we're on the safe side."

Wow. I guess it's good I was out for the most part because just feeling how painful these bites are from those boars, would have had me screaming and crying.

I felt Edward kiss the top of my head and squeeze me closer to him. "Try to get some rest, sweetheart. You need to get your strength back up. I'll bring up something for you to eat in a couple of hours. Okay?"

I just nodded and snuggled back down into the blanket that was covering me, the exhaustion starting to catch up with me.

A while later, I woke up to a cool breeze flowing across my face, and warm kisses along my cheek.

"B? You awake this time?" I heard Edward's voice come from beside me.

"Mmmhmmm. Are we outside or something?" I asked without opening my eyes. I was too damn comfortable right now to move a muscle.

I heard him laugh. "No. We're still inside. I just opened up the window to let some air in. The sun's been streaming in on you and you felt like you were getting a little warm, so I opened the window for you. It does feel pretty good for December here. It's seventy degrees out there today. I wanna get a place here and stay here for the winter months, and spend the summer months in Seattle." He said, chuckling and shifting on the bed.

"It does feel good. Why haven't we ever ventured this way before? This is much more comfortable than Seattle." I told him as I turned over to look at him.

He was propped up on his elbow, looking down at me. His hair was a mess, and his face still held worry. But I could see some relief there too.

"You're worried about something…" I stated, rather than asked. I knew him well enough to know his moods and faces.

"…I have to leave to go back to Seattle tomorrow." He said, and then I started shaking my head in a panic. "Baby, I have to. I have to make sure that he's dealt with. I'm not gonna trust someone else to do this. And I need to find out who else he's working with. I wouldn't leave you if I had my way, but I need to do this so that you can come home. I wasn't going to risk you going back there yet, until he was dead. I'm sorry, but I can't lose you like that again."

I sighed, and tried to calm my nerves.

Of course he had to go back and do this. It was just his nature to protect his family and the ones he loved. But I still didn't want to be away from him.

"I understand." I whispered and buried my face in his chest.

"I will be back for you and the kids as soon as things have settled down." He said, and then reached over to the bedside table for something. "Now, we found your iPad, but your phone didn't make it through the wreck, so I bought you a new phone, and made sure your iPad was still ok. Everything's working fine. So we can talk whenever you want while I'm gone. And I had Jasper put a chip in a small charm to put on your bracelet, just as a precaution. I don't want this to ever happen again, and me not be able to find you. None of us slept much, and we looked at every single lead we could find, but still came up with nothing. But… I went to Charlie and finally confronted him. I had seen him down at the reservation where Black does some of his business, and it wasn't too long before you were taken. He's the one that finally told me that it was probably an island that you were on. I could kill that man just as easily as I could Black, right now. I don't care if he's your father, he had a hand in them taking you, and that is unforgivable in my book."

Oh my god…

Charlie helped them?

But why?

That's gonna take a while to soak up and understand.

Jasper, Carlisle and Emmett came up to 'my room' and visited with me for a little while too.

I never realized how much these people really felt like family to me, until now. They're actually concerned about me, and came looking for me. They didn't help the sick bastard that did this to me.

I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive Charlie, either.

Jasper, Carlisle and Emmett didn't treat me any differently. Sure, they were a little more careful, but they still acted the same with me as before the accident.

And I'm grateful for that.

Edward, though, I can understand his treatment of me.

He feels like this is his fault.

And I've told him that it's not; it's Black's fault. But he still takes the blame on himself.

I'm gonna have to keep working on him.

"How long do you think we'll have to stay here?" I asked Edward later when he was sitting beside me again in the bed.

He seemed to think for a while before he answered. "I'm not sure. A couple of weeks? Maybe more? We still have to find him and figure out what the hell's been going on. I didn't want to tell you before, but I do think you should know. Someone was in our apartments. Someone took your pictures out of my apartment. And then someone came in and did the same at your place, but they took the pictures that had to do with me or the kids. I don't know what's going on, but it freaks me out a little. It's part of the reason I don't want you going back to Seattle just yet. Whoever this is seems to be working with Black, because it happened while you were gone, and the kids and I were staying at my parents' place."

I looked at him with panicked eyes.

What kind of sicko did that?

Now I feel weird about going back into my apartment. Like I don't know what I'll find out of place, or what they did in there other than take my pictures of the kids and Edward.

"I know. I kind of feel the same way. But I'm having both places scoured, and swept for anything that shouldn't be there. I haven't been back there yet because I didn't find out until we were in the helicopter coming down to get you on the beach the other day. But I'll check the place over when I get there. I promise, I will take care of everything before you come home, baby." He assured me, and it did make me feel a tiny bit better.

I just don't like this situation. It makes me incredibly nervous.

Alistair had given me some pain meds and I was starting to feel a little bit better. Edward helped me eat a ham sandwich, and get better situated so that I could try to start standing up and moving around.

It took me a couple of tries, but I made it over to the bathroom and I was able to take care of business myself.

I was a little tired after that, but not enough to make me want to sleep.

Edward and I settled back in together, this time on the sofa that was sitting beside the open window.

We just sat there, wrapped up in each other for a while, knowing that he had to leave to go back tomorrow.

That was until we heard what sounded like a herd of buffalo on the stairs, coming this way.

"Should I be worried?" I asked Edward, who shook his head, laughing just before the door was flung open.

"MOMMY! MOMMA!" Mason and Izzy screamed when they saw me, and ran over and jumped on Edward and me.

Izzy automatically wrapped her arms around my neck and started crying.

"Oh, my babies. I missed you two so much." I cried along with her, relishing in having her in my arms, and pulling Mason over to me so I could just feel that they were both there, and safe.

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><p>Awwwww…. See, I can leave you with fluffiness too. Lol<p>

Ok, I said this in the last chapter of MBEB, and I've said it before here too. Yes, I'm using Charleston in my story, even though two other mob stories are using it too. I've had this city planned out to be in this story since the beginning, and I was not going to change it. Charleston is a very near and dear city to me. I absolutely love that place. I'll go down there every once in a while for a day trip, since it's only about an hour and a half drive away.

If you ever plan on going there, visit the old slave market, king street, the battery, rainbow row, the old churches that have been there since the civil war, let's seeeee…. Oh, the old battle sites like Fort Sumter, and Fort Moultrie. Any of the plantations that are open to the public. They are so stunning. And a lot of the older Charleston style homes around the area are tourist attractions. Oooo! Horse drawn carriage rides around the heart of downtown Charleston. Seriously, if you haven't been, you really need to visit. Charleston is the epitome of southern charm and what the south is about.

So if you haven't noticed, I do love this city, so don't come and picket my story just because it was used somewhere else too. If you have a problem with it, then by all means don't read it.

Alright, now let's see, what else….. oh, little heads up. December is gonna be a little crazy for me, so if I'm a little slow with updates, I'm sorry. I've got so much to do and I don't even know how I'm gonna get it all done. So bear with me. I'll have them up when they're ready.

Ok, I think that's it for now. Until next time on MBEB

Laters!


	22. Chapter 22

Hiiiiiiii! I'm back!

So, I loved all the reviews from the last chapter here, and at MBEB. Some of you are close with your guesses, but a little off. I think only one person got it right. But I'm not telling.

I still can't thank you guys enough for your support and feedback. It's so great to hear what you have to say.

As usual, my Lola is the beta (I'm still sorry sweets. You know I have to do it)

And SM owns twilight.

See you at the bottom!

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><p>BPOV<p>

Thank God my injuries are healing quickly.

Izzy and Mason have seen to it that I'm not to do anything. Which I will admit is helping in the healing process, but I am about to go stir crazy soon.

It's only been four days since Edward left to go back to Seattle, and I miss him already. But I also understand why he had to go back, and leave us here. He went back to keep us out of danger.

And I love him for that.

I just hope he, and the rest of our family, stays safe while they deal with Jacob Black.

I'm to the point that I don't care what they do to him, anymore. I just want Black dead. He's terrorized me enough. I'm done being the sweet little girl I've always been. When it comes to my kids and Edward, I will be the biggest bitch possible.

Having all of this happen to me, and having all that time on the island, and the past couple of days being with Mason and Izzy, I've come to the conclusion that I need to embrace Edward's lifestyle. And I really don't have a problem with it, like I thought I might.

I think this is what Esme was talking about since I found out about the family; learning to adapt to all of the late nights, people trying to hurt us and our family, the illegal things that we try not to get involved in, the cops that try to hound on them.

Thankfully, there haven't really been any problems with the cops since they've been back in Seattle. But I have a feeling it'll only be a matter of time. Especially with what they're planning to do.

I definitely don't want them to get in trouble, but I think they'd risk it just to have Black out of our lives.

I don't know if I'll really ever be able to go back into my apartment after Edward told me that someone was in there. It freaks me the hell out knowing that someone was snooping, going through my things, doing god knows what with them or to them. I know Edward said they were going to sweep the place for bugs and stuff, but it just still feels weird to me. Maybe once I'm back there and see things for myself, then I won't feel that way.

Rose has been great too. She's actually almost as bad as the kids with getting me to relax; I keep telling her I'm fine, but she insists.

I am grateful for her though, since it's hard to change my clothes and shower with my arm mostly wrapped up, and a large bandage still around my leg. I don't think I would be at all comfortable with Alistair seeing me naked, even though he is a doctor.

Right now, the kids and I are sitting in the large living room downstairs, watching a movie together, while Rose is cooking dinner.

"Ro, are you sure you don't need any help in there? You know, I'm not completely helpless." I called to her from my spot between the kids.

"Bells, seriously, just relax and let us do this for you. You'll probably never get this level of groveling unless you and he have a baby, so soak it up, missy."

"I swear if one more person tells me to relax, I'm gonna use one of these antiques for target practice!" I yell back to her, frustrated.

Izzy turns to look at me with questioning eyes. "You and daddy are gonna have a baby?"

I groan into my hands, and then run them through my hair. "No, sweetheart. You're my only babies right now. But maybe someday."

"But I want a little sister!" She says, half excited, half frustrated.

"No, I want a little brother!" That'd be Mason adding in his two cents.

"Why do you get to have a brother? You've got daddy!"

"You've got mommy!"

"We haven't always had mommy!"

Again, I groan, and turn my head towards the kitchen. "Thanks a lot for throwing me under the bus, Ro!"

"Anytime, Honey!" She laughs back to me.

Bitch.

We spent the next few days in pretty much the same manner, but I'm ok with it. As long as I get to spend time with part of my family, I'm fine.

Now it's been about a week since I woke up in this house, and I'm about to go bonkers. I gotta get out of here and do something. Anything.

It's this same day that a car pulls up in the long, tree lined driveway, in front of the house.

I had been standing in the kitchen with Rose, 'supervising' lunch, because that's all she'd let me do, when we heard the car come up, and we both looked out the window.

"Alistair?!" I yelled into the other room where he was… I'm actually not sure what he was doing…

I saw a couple of guys step out of the car, and look around. They kind of reminded me of Carlisle's guys, but any number of mob men could look the same way.

A second car pulls up behind the first, and I start panicking...

Until I see who jumps out of the back of the car.

"Oh my God!" I squeak and rush as fast as I can to the front door. I fling the door open and smile at the woman coming up the steps, both of us with tears in our eyes. "Momma!"

Esme comes rushing up the rest of the stairs and pulls me into her arms.

"Oh my baby girl, I was so worried about you. Don't ever scare me like that again, do you hear me?" She said as she pulled back and held my face in her hands.

I let out a little sob and nodded at her. "I'm just so glad you're here, ma. I missed you all so much." I pulled her back to me and just let her motherly warmth engulf me.

When I finally pulled back, I saw Alice standing behind Esme, tears streaked down her face.

"Come here, Ali…" I told her, then she just bolted towards me and we wrapped each other up in a huge hug.

We finally made our way into the house and Rose was standing there with a huge smile on her face.

"You knew?" I asked her, already knowing it was probably true.

"Em told me the other day that they were sending Esme and Alice our way to get them out of Seattle until things are settled and done. Edward didn't tell you because he didn't want you to stress and worry about them the whole time they were driving here. So he and Em let me know so I had a heads up as to when to expect them. So don't get pissy with me or them, because you know full well that you'd have been a mess the whole time if you knew. It's bad enough that they're about to start a god damn war, we don't need you any worse for wear. So let's get them all settled in, we'll relax and maybe we'll get to go out and see some of the city in the next day or so. If you're feeling up to it and if Alistair clears you for it." Rose explained and I guess I could see where she's coming from, so I wasn't gonna make a fuss.

Once Esme and Alice and the rest of the guards that came with them got settled in, we sat down and ate the lunch that Rose was preparing earlier…

Which I guess I understand now why she looked like she was feeding an army. Oh well.

The day after Esme and Alice showed up, we finally got out of the damn house.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that house, but I was starting to think the walls were shutting in on me.

We ventured into town, and walked a little around the old slave market and bought some things in the great selections of gift shops, ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., then took a horse drawn carriage tour of the battery and downtown.

I was in absolute awe of this place. Everywhere you turned, there was a little piece of history just staring you in the face, and you couldn't help but feel like the places beyond this area were just miniscule in comparison.

I'm really falling in love with this town. And I don't think I'd ever want to leave.

Except Edward's three thousand miles away. If he were here, it'd be absolutely perfect.

Speaking of Edward, I still haven't heard back from him since the other day. He said he wouldn't be able to contact me for a while until all of this was over with. They were about to start with their plans and didn't know when they would be in contact again.

I begged him to be safe and come get us when everything was over and done.

He swore that he'd come back to me.

I felt Esme's arm wrap around me while we were on the carriage ride around the battery.

"Worrying will only make you go gray, baby." She told me quietly, trying to make me smile.

This worked a little.

"I can't help it. I'm always gonna worry about him. I don't see how the three of you are so… I don't know… tranquil."

"Sweetheart, I've told you; this is years and years of practice. I feel like my insides are about to combust with anxiety. It's always like this. But I've come to understand that there will come a day that, more than likely, Carlisle won't come back home when he leaves for these things. Rose knows this, and Alice is just starting to understand it. It's part of the life we've chosen to live. An unfortunate part, yes. But you have to look at it like this; they are giving everything in themselves to protect us, their children, and their futures. Sometimes, they go down fighting to ensure that we are taken care of. And they always make sure that we are taken care of in some shape or form. And believe me; Edward already has a backup plan for you in case something happens to him. And the kids. He's always had one for the kids, but it changed when he found you again. He made sure that you would never be apart from this family. And that if it came down to it, you would be the kids legal guardian. The three of you would be cared for and never have to worry about anything. All of the Cullen men do this. Especially once they've found the woman they want to spend their lives with and their children if they have them. It comes with the territory, baby. We can't do anything about it, but pray." She tried to calm me.

Just then, the carriage stopped in front of St. Michael's church. I looked up at the historic white church, its steeple reaching towards the clouds, and wondered if this was a sign.

I closed my eyes and prayed.

'_God please, keep them all safe. Keep Edward out of harm's way and bring him back to me. He's the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I can't lose him.'_

After our afternoon touring the city, we headed back to the plantation.

I obviously hadn't seen it when I was brought here, but just going up the driveway takes you back in time.

The old, wood fencing at the road, the tree lined driveway where the trees had to be at least four hundred years old, the dirt driveway, the horses running on one side of the driveway in a field that goes on for miles and miles, and seeing the outside of the huge, white plantation style house, it's just a little slice of history.

"We'll take another tour around the plantation tomorrow. But you, missy, need to get some rest and take it easy. Let's go." Rose said, helping me out of the car and into the house.

We spent the better part of the evening playing games and watching TV. Mason and Izzy were fast learners with card games. I was very impressed. They actually kicked my ass a few times.

But when it was time to go to bed, I was restless. I couldn't sleep, and every time I got comfortable, my mind would wander.

I finally threw the covers off of me and padded down the hall.

I'm not sure why, but I ended up outside of Esme's door.

I knocked quietly, wondering if she was asleep and if I should just go back to bed, but her soft 'come in' had me opening the door.

Once inside, I quietly walked over to her bed, and she pulled the blankets back so that I could climb in.

She knew what I needed.

"Come here, baby. It's ok. I know how you feel." She cooed as she wrapped her arms around me and I rested my head on her shoulder.

"What am I gonna do if-"I started to ask, but Esme cut me off.

"Don't. Don't let your mind conjure up the 'what if's' that could happen. It'll only serve to drive you up the walls. Get your mind off of it, and try to focus on something else. You can't do this to yourself every time."

"Or wear myself out with worry." I told her with a slight laugh.

"Try to relax, sweetheart. They would have called if something happened. The fact that we haven't heard anything yet is good. When you get the phone call that means you can start worrying. Now go to sleep."

I finally just let my brain shut off and went to sleep in Esme's bed.

The next day, we got to take another horse drawn carriage ride, but it was around the plantation.

The grounds of the plantation were breathtaking. Trees everywhere, a creek that the kids got out and played in a little, the acres and acres of land that the horses were running on, the blue wintertime sky. It was wonderful.

Something was stirring in my gut all day though. I don't know what, but I had a bad feeling.

I finally got to the point where I was so damn distracted by this that I had to know something.

The kids were outside playing with the dog that lived with one of the caretakers, so I was taking the opportunity and finding out.

I walked over to the TV. and turned it on, flipping it to CNN.

Once I had the TV on, we all stopped breathing.

I read what was on the screen over and over until I think my eyes were crossing.

'_Breaking News:_

_Seattle: Suspected Mob Leaders, Dead'_

You could hear a damn pin drop in the room.

That was until the sound of a phone ringing broke us all from our trances.

I turned around and saw that it was Esme's phone on the table that was ringing. We all looked at it, then at each other.

It was when I looked at Esme though that things clicked.

I saw the look in her eyes. That scared, frightened, woeful look.

_Someone was dead._

I started breathing heavily and shaking my head. "No… no. no, no… no…" I chanted to myself.

This couldn't be happening.

I felt a pair of arms around me, and the faint sound of Rose's voice.

"Bella, breath, honey. You have to breathe. You have to calm down."

I kept shaking my head. I wasn't getting enough air.

"I can't breath." Were the last words I said, before my eyes rolled back and I couldn't see or feel anything.

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><p>Uuuummmmm…. Yeah I'm gonna go hide now. *runs behind the couch*<p>

Needless to say I've got an upset beta right now because she has insight into what's gonna happen…. She wasn't too happy last night. (you know I love you)

Sooooo, obviously a HUGE chapter coming up next in MBEB. Most….. yeah, most of everything will be explained. No guarantees. But I did tell you guys that it wouldn't be Edward, so don't be mad.

Until next time my dears,

Laters!


	23. Chapter 23

HI everyone! I know it's been a few weeks for this side of the story, and I'm sorry for that. I wrote two chapters for MBEB and been trying to get these set up where I want them, which has been kinda hard.

I've also been a little wary with writing on this lately, because of the shooting last month in Connecticut. I'm just on the fence between going into more with this story, and letting some of it slide. As some of you know, I did go into the gun violence in the last two chapters of MBEB, but not much. I didn't want it to be too much for anyone in the wake of what's happened. So I will dial it down in the future. I don't want anyone to be upset by anything else I write. Not that I've gotten anything about it in reviews, but I feel like I want to be… I don't know, a little more sensitive on the subject.

The Connecticut shooting does kind of hit home with me because I've got a niece in elementary school, an nephew about to enter elementary school, my sister, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law are all teachers. I've also got a lot of friends that are teachers. So I kind of freaked out when I heard about it. It could have just as easily happened at any of their schools.

Ok, moving on.

So, I know you guys wigged out on me when I left things off at the end of the last chapter. Don't worry, you get your answers here, if you haven't read MBEB. Even a few more answers for you all that read MBEB too, because I guess I did forget to say whether Black and a certain psycho were dead or not.

We've still got a ways to go. Not sure how much more is left, but at least one, maybe two weddings, another shootout(that could be the last one for the story, but not sure), and we'll see what else I have in store for these two.

So, you guys know by now that Lola is my awesomest beta ever. (and only one :) )

And SM owns twilight.

So get to reading!

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><p>BPOV<p>

I felt someone tapping the side of my face, and tried swatting it away.

My arms felt heavy, and the tapping was accompanied by a couple of voices that started to come into focus.

"Bella, sweetie, wake up. Come on, honey." I think it was Rose and Alice.

"Mmm mmmm. Don't wanna" I mumbled, because for some reason, I really wasn't sure if I could handle whatever was waiting for me.

"Don't do that Bells. Sweetie, he's fine. Come on, we gotta tell you what they said." Rose said, trying to sit me up so I was joining them.

"Ok, ok…" I tried to sit up myself, but needed the support Rose and Alice were giving me.

I could see tear streaks running down Alice's face. And automatically, I start panicking.

"Calm down, and listen, honey." Rose said, and I heard the relief, and worry at the same time, in her voice.

That made me feel… somewhat appeased. But still freaking out a little.

I saw Esme walk over to where we were and sit down, tears staining her own face.

She took a deep breath and started.

"They're… they're alive. As far as Carlisle, Edward, Jasper and Emmett go. But… ummm… Carlisle, Edward, and Jasper were shot. Jasper was just grazed in the arm. He didn't even tell Edward or Carlisle when they woke up from their surgeries that he was hurt. But he says he's perfectly fine. Edward… was shot in the leg. He had a lot of damage to the nerves, and he's going to have a hard time walking from now on…." She ran her hands over her face and through her hair. Something Edward always did.

"What about Carlisle?" I asked in almost a whisper.

She looked back up and I saw the tears filling her eyes.

"He was shot twice. Once in the side and once in the back… The bullet hit his spine…He's paralyzed from the waist down." She barely got the last part out before she burst into tears.

I buried my own face in my hands, and broke out into my own tears.

I can't believe all of this…

We're all just over-run with emotions and tears right now. I'm shaking and can barely hold in the heaving sobs that are taking over.

Oh god, what is this going to do to Edward? He's got to be so anxious and worried about how he's going to cope and raise the kids. He's been their main care giver, as a single parent. He's not going to be able to do this on his own. I know I'm going to go ahead and talk to him about moving in with him, so I can help out.

I thank God that they're alive, though. I don't know what I would've done if Edward was gone…

"What the hell happened over there?" Rose asked from beside me, emotion thick in her voice.

Esme went on to explain how Irina, the woman that drugged Edward and got pregnant with the twins, was behind the whole thing. She had gotten to Jacob, had him eating out of her hand, and married him so that she could be a mob wife.

What was completely insane was that she and Tanya were… sleeping together too.

Turns out Irina was a bisexual.

So Tanya was apparently helping her, and they had planned on having a fake marriage license show up at the courthouse for Edward and Tanya…

Not. Happening….

Irina's plan was to have herself and Tanya end up being the remaining members of the Black and Cullen crime families. She lured them all into the situation at Black's building, in Seattle, so that they could kill each other off. She used the feud between them to her advantage to gain power. And she almost succeeded.

And somehow she was going to have the two combined for one huge empire.

Irina finally lost it, and shot Carlisle, and then Edward and Jasper shot her, killing her.

But they didn't know where Tanya was, or what would happen with her. She was a loose end that needed to be dealt with. Hopefully soon.

Esme also told us that Emmett's dad was dead, and Esme's brother, Tyler, was also dead. And Esme's nephew, Eric, was barely holding on at the moment and they didn't know if he'd make it or not.

She also said that Jasper warned her about a possibility of someone coming our way to get rid of us and take the kids. We had no clue if that would happen since Irina was dead, but we didn't want to take any chances.

After composing ourselves from the blubbering messes we were through Esme telling us what happened, we went about packing up our things and loading up the cars.

The kids were happy to be going home, but I was just worried what was waiting for us back in Seattle.

Where was Tanya, and what would she do in retaliation? How would Edward be when we got there? And Carlisle? Are the cops going to take them to jail? What's going to happen in the fallout?

We got on the road soon after getting everything packed up, and headed towards Florida. We would catch a flight from there and head to Seattle.

It was easier that way to keep Charleston off of the radar. If anyone was looking into flights, they would think we had gone to Disney World with the kids. Our 'hideaway' would be safe.

This made me glad because I wanted to return to Charleston for vacations, and maybe buy a house there.

But Edward's going to have a long road in healing, and getting back on his feet.

So does Carlisle.

I just hope things blow over and we can all go on with our lives.

It was pretty quiet on the flight back. We were all deep in contemplation, and just wanting to get back to Seattle, to our men.

I was ready to get there and take care of my Edward. And I know, right now, he needed his kids. He needed me. We've been together and know each other enough to realize that… this is going to be it for us. We're both sure we're going to spend the rest of our lives together. We need each other; in good times and in bad.

And I'm sure as hell not going to back down from this. I'm going to be strong and I'm going to take care of him and help him in his recovery. I will do whatever needs to be done to get him back to normal, or as close to his normal as we can get him.

Izzy was sitting next to me on the flight back, and she looked over to me at one point and asked, "Mommy, when are you and daddy getting married?", like she was asking me to get her a glass of water.

I looked at her for a moment, kind of shocked, but shook it off. "Umm, well, baby, I don't really know. It's something me and daddy have to talk about. But when, and if we get that figured out, you and Mase will be the first ones to know."

She sat there, looking me in the eye like she was trying to work something out. "But… You _are_ gonna get married, aren't you?" She asked in a really hopeful voice.

I pulled her to my side and held her to me. "Sweetheart… I can't answer it for sure, but daddy and I have talked about it a little. As far as we're concerned, we'll always, _always_ be together. And if that means us getting married, then yeah, it'll probably happen. But I don't want you and Mason to be disappointed if something happens with me and daddy, and we're not together. I don't see that ever happening, but you never know. I want you to know, though, that you and Mason are everything to me. I will do everything I can to be a great mom to both of you. I'll do everything I can to be the other half that your daddy needs. We'll be a family. I'm sure of it. Things do happen, but I love you, and I'm not going to back out of being your mom for anything. I don't want you to worry about anything. You and Mason will always be loved and taken care of, no matter what. You two are our first priority. Always, baby girl." I squeezed her to me a little, and felt her nod.

We settled into our seats together, and just held each other.

Landing back in Seattle, and getting the kids in a secure car, we made our way back to Esme and Carlisle's house.

Esme had told us that there was an area in the basement that was setup as a 'hospital wing' of the house. It's stocked and equipped for almost anything. They had doctors and surgeons on their payroll and at the ready whenever they needed.

This kind of surprises me. I didn't realize that their wealth was that extensive. And it kind of freaks me out.

I'm not used to any of this; just being able to say 'I want this in my house; I don't care what the price is. Just make it happen.' It's daunting.

"Bella?" I hear Esme call me from the other side of the car. "Sweetie, are you ok?" Oh my god, how can she be asking me that?

"Oh Esme, I should be asking you that. I'm fine. I'm just trying to go through what we need to do when we get home." I looked over to where Izzy and Mason are, sitting in front of us. Seeing that they're focused on the coloring books in their laps, I lower my voice so only Esme and Rose, who is between us, can hear. "I'm gonna tell Edward that I'm gonna move in to his apartment with him, so that I can help him with his recovery. We were gonna move in with each other eventually, and this is just a push for us to go ahead with it. I'm honestly a little creeped out to go back into my apartment alone, after all that's happened. But at Edward's, I'll at least feel a little safer. I don't know, I'm just anxious with everything that's happening. But you… Esme, you shouldn't be worrying about me. You've got more than enough to deal with on your own."

She reached across Rose and grabbed my hand, squeezing it. "Baby, I will always, _always_, worry about you. You're all my kids, and I will worry about each of you, all the time. We're going to deal with all of this as a family. I know Carlisle's going to have to be in hiding, in a manner of speaking, but that's ok. And I'll still be around to do whatever needs to be done. I'll keep the kids, I'll come make dinner for you guys, whatever. This is what family does, honey. We're there for each other. We'll get through it as a family."

Rose laid her hand over ours, squeezing both of our hand in hers. "You can count me in." She told us with a smile.

"Me too! But I can't reach back there right now!" Alice piped up from the seat in front of us with the kids, where she was trying to pick up crayons from the floor that she couldn't reach because she still had her seatbelt on.

The three of us all burst out laughing at seeing her, which was good for us. We didn't need all the heavy talk. And Esme's right. We'll get through it. Together, as a family.

Before we knew it, we were pulling up to the Cullen house, and it seemed so daunting for a moment. Knowing what was waiting inside, kind of scared me. But I shook that off because I needed to see him. I needed to see with my eyes that he was alive and in one piece. For the most part, anyways.

"I'll take them upstairs and get Em to help me keep them distracted for a while. We'll explain to them that Edward's hurt, and they can't see him just yet. But that you will come get them when it's ok to go down to the infirmary." Rose told me as we got out of the SUV, and got the kids out.

"Thank you. I'll try to be quick, but I still don't know what to expect down there. I'm a little scared." I whispered to her, and she pulled me into a hug.

"Don't worry. You'll do fine. Just worry about him, and we'll deal with the kids. I'm sure Ali and Jasper will be there to help us too. So maybe that'll buy you some more time. Just do what you need to do. You and Esme are needed down there." She whispered back to me, and then let me go. She turned and gathered the kids to head into the house, and up the stairs.

Esme and I were left standing together in the front hallway.

"It's best to just get it over with. You know, rip the band aid off fast, instead of going through the torture? Come on, we'll go down together." She said, reaching her hand out to me, and leading me through the house to the stairs at the back mud room, that lead downstairs.

I was shaking as I walked behind Esme, and breathing heavily. I barely saw anything as we walked through the two hallways, and then through what actually looked like a small hospital ER. But I saw enough to know that Rose and Esme were right; this really is like their own little hospital wing.

We slowed as we came to a door and looked inside.

When I saw that it was Edward's room, I burst into tears.

When he heard me, he turned his head I saw that he had his own tears in his eyes.

"Oh baby, come here." He said, opening his arms in invitation.

I didn't have to be told twice.

I bolted into the room, careful as I noticed the leg on the other side of the bed was elevated, and threw my arms around him and just cried into his shoulder.

"Edward, don't ever do that to me again. I can't lose you. Please…" I sobbed, not able to keep myself from crumbling anymore.

"Baby, I'm so sorry for scaring you like that. I didn't think it would get that bad. But I'm here. I'm here, sweetheart, and I'm never letting you go. I promise. I love you so fucking much, baby." He told me through his own tears, hugging me to him as tightly as he possibly could.

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><p>Tears. Anyone? I was gonna keep going with this chapter, but I felt like I could get more in the next chapter if I stopped here.<p>

And hopefully you guys got all of the information on what happened in Seattle. If not, either PM me, or go back and read the last two chapters of MBEB.

Anyways, I'm gonna see what I can get done on either of these stories, and get some more out to y'all asap.

Til then,

Laters!


	24. Chapter 24

*Hides*

*Hides some more….*

*Hides even more….*

*Peeks from hiding spot* Hey guys. I'm soooooooooooooooooooooo sorry it's taken so long to update. I've had some major personal issues going on, and I'm freaking out a little. So it's taken a little longer for me to get some writing done. I'm working on it though. I promise.

We're working towards wrapping up the story in the next 6 chapters or so. Depending on how I can get things worked into the story. We'll see how it all works out.

MBEB might be 1-3 more chapters left too.

Soooo, as usual, Lola (LaurieWhitlock) is my beta and bestest in the world. Muahs!

And SM owns Twilight, not I.

So read on my lovelies, I know you've been waiting long enough.

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><p>BPOV<p>

"MOMMA! Can we make cookies?" I hear Mason yell through the apartment from his room, while I'm in the living room, getting Edward situated in his spot after physical therapy.

"Yeah, baby! You and Iz need to wash up first, though!" I yelled back, finishing up, and handing Edward his laptop.

"Thank you. For everything, babe. You've been so great the past couple of months, and I really don't know what I'd have done without your help. I love you." He whispered to me, and then kissed me.

I stood up and smiled at him. "I love you more than anything. Where else would I be? I'm not going anywhere."

I went into the kitchen to get things ready for the kids.

I thought about everything since the shootout that injured Edward, and paralyzed Carlisle.

And in all honesty, this family seems to have grown stronger, which I'd never thought could have happened.

After the funerals of Tyler, Eric and Uncle Ed, we all had to be strong and push through. Because we all knew the cops were going to be a problem if they didn't 'believe' the story that Edward and the others told them.

They were all questioned, and each of them told the police, basically, Irina was off her rocker, and orchestrated a plot to 'get the Black and Cullen money'. By getting to Jacob and marrying him, drugging Edward years ago and having his kids. But since she gave up her rights, she had to get someone else to get to Edward. So she got her lover, Tanya, to try to get Edward's attention, and get him to marry her. But since Edward had found me, they were going to have a marriage license snuck into the city records, so it would look like Edward had gone ahead and married her. But they obviously never got around to it, because no one could find the so called marriage license.

And when things didn't go their way, Irina finally lured everyone in each family to that building so that they could fight it out. Since there was a 'feud' going on, she knew they would fight first, ask questions later. Which is what they did, and when they explained that Irina was there the whole time, and provoked them all, things heated, and everyone was trying to defend themselves.

Since it was considered 'self defense', the cops let them off. But not without some community service. Which Edward and Carlisle aren't able to do, obviously.

The police were in agreement that Carlisle should be kept under wraps in hiding, since there is still a threat, and he's obviously not able to defend himself. They were actually very understanding, which shocked me. I guess that was part of what Edward was saying about them having the cops on their side.

The cops are still keeping an eye on the family, watching to see if they're doing anything illegal. Edward had said that they were going to be laying low with the family business because they had a feeling the cops were gonna be on their asses about everything for a while.

But the cops were going to have the guys work for them on a more permanent basis.

The Cullen's were also working on rebuilding the business. Since Carlisle is out of commission, and Edward's gonna be extremely limited, and with Ed, Tyler, and Eric gone, things changed and they needed to decide if they were gonna stay in Chicago, stay in Seattle, lose one city, keep both, etc. They didn't know for a while.

But they finally decided that they would stay here and focus on the family business being here, and pull everything but legitimate business out of Chicago. They hadn't been too happy with things in Chicago, which was one of the reasons why they had decided to come here to begin with. They wanted a fresh start and to see where things would go there, but since things happened in the shootout, they made the decision.

Getting into a new routine was kind of rough, but also worth it.

They reworked everything about the business. Not just leaving Chicago, but figuring out a way to repurpose the entire thing.

Before, yeah you could call them more of a normal mafia, but since they had been working with the cops back in Chicago, it was something that the police and feds were interested in, too.

Edward explained it to me one night, and it was one of the reasons they weren't looking at jail time.

_~Flashback~_

_Edward and I were sitting in bed one night after the kids were in bed, and the cops had been by to see him and the other guys while we were at Esme and Carlisle's. _

"_So what did they want?" I asked him as I snuggled into his side._

"…_They want our help. As a more permanent job. You know I told you we had been working for the cops back in Chicago?" He asked, and I nodded. "Well, we hadn't been doing quite as much with them here. We did a couple of things, but nothing substantial. The cops had a fed with them, and I think he was C.I.A. He never said exactly where he was from. And I don't think the F.B.I. would have come to us for something like this. _

"_But, they asked us if we would consider working for them, in a professional capacity. Basically, we wouldn't be doing our own business, we'd be doing theirs. And when we were faced with that, and a federal investigation and prison time, we listened to what they were asking. _

"_So, we've essentially become mercenaries for them. This, for the most part, is kind of what we were before, just on a smaller scale, and for ourselves. We were just more into the business side of things. Not the killing and missions that you would get with actual mercenaries. And with this new venture, we'd be gone a lot more." He explained and I was trying to let it all sink in. But he just said 'we'…_

"_Wait, you're not going on these missions, are you?" I asked, a little panicky. He just looked down at me and slowly nodded. "Edward, no. You're not ready for anything like that. What would you be able to do with them? You have to get your strength back up, and be able to walk without limping before you can get back to any active role."_

"_I know baby. And I will. In the beginning, I'll just be doing radio contact with them. And, I don't want you to freak out, but Jasper's been teaching me the logistics of flying the chopper. He's gonna get me up in it to do some actual flying once my leg is doing better, but we've kind of decided that that will be my new role in things. It's what we all came up with when we sat down to discuss things about the restructure. And I'm good with it. You don't need to worry about it, B. I'm gonna be in one of the safer positions in all of this. I'll always do whatever I can to make sure I come back to you and the kids." He squeezed me to him even more, and we decided to drop the topic and go to sleep. _

_I know he's going to be in a 'safer' role, but I'll still always worry about him, no matter what._

_~End Flashback~_

Edward's been in a simulator the past week or so for the helicopter. Jasper's been waiting for him to be, somewhat up and walking, to get him in there.

Edward has been working with his physical therapist since about two weeks after he was shot, and is just now getting on his feet for more than a minute or two. It's been hard for him, adjusting, but true to everyone's word, we weren't alone in it. Alice, Jasper, Em, Rose, Esme, even aunt Liz and Anthony were helping out.

Liz and Anthony were staying in my old apartment and the other apartment that was set aside for the rest of the family. Liz is in my apartment, since it's more feminine, and she loved it. And Em and Rose weren't that far from them either, so that's helping with their grieving. And I feel better having them use the space here, because I'd hate for it to go to waste, and I don't want them to spend money if they don't have to. We all made it clear we wanted them close by, and that they were more than welcome here.

So they've just gotten settled here in the past month, and are actually adjusting great. Edward and the boys are so happy to have Anthony with them. With Edward being out of active duty, and Carlisle out of his lead position, it's good for them to have the extra man power in the inner circle.

Christmas… was not a big production, since Carlisle and Edward were just recovering at the time. And with the cops still trying to question everyone, things were a little on edge. So we focused everything on the kids, and just had a quiet family thing. Esme, Rose, Alice and I cooked, Edward and Carlisle rested, and Jasper and Emmett were our 'on-hand runners' for when we needed something at the store.

Em and Jazz were good sports about it too.

The kids had a great Christmas. Edward and I did some online shopping together for them, then he gave me a list, and MY family credit card, to go out and find the last few things. Which I gladly did.

We all agreed that we wouldn't really do gifts among the adults this year. And I was ok with that…

Up to the point when Edward pulled me aside to the library on Christmas Eve and showed me a small mountain of presents from the family.

_~flashback~_

As soon as I saw them, I turned and started making my way out of the room. "No, no way Edward. We said no presents."

Edward turned in his wheelchair and grabbed my hand before I got too far out of the room.

"B, stop. You know I'd never let you go a single holiday, or even a random day, without something for you. And don't pretend that you didn't get me something, too. I know you." He said, smirking at the last part.

Damn it. He did know me. A little too well sometimes.

"But we all decided not to do presents for the adults, as a group. Edward, I refuse to believe that you got ALL of that," I pointed to the pile, "just for me for Christmas. It looks like Alice slaughtered an entire credit card limit over there."

He laughed at that description, probably because he knew I know Alice way too well and knew her penchant for over doing shit.

Which is why she isn't coming anywhere near my damn wedding with her credit card. I'll cut them all up first.

She'd probably just go to Edward or Jasper for theirs.

Fuck, I gotta think all of that out. I don't know if I can handle dealing with a huge affair.

Later.

"B, baby, you know this family, and how they work. They just want to make your first Christmas here, memorable. And with us deciding not to do a huge family gift exchange, they wanted to bring these by and let you open them on your own. And yes, Alice did go a little overboard, but you know her. She loves buying for people. And of course, Ma had to do her thing too. Ma would never let it slide when it came to you." He smiled up at me, pulling me onto his lap. "Baby, they really want to make up for lost time."

"Fine. But I'm not happy that it looks like there are more clothes there than what will actually fit in my closet. And I know that's mostly what Alice got for me. She probably cleaned out everything in my size in her store." I joked, but was kind of scared to find out if I was right. Cuz I think I might actually have hit the nail on the head with that one.

"I won't say anything, but you're probably right. Along with wherever else she could get to. Hey, at least you don't have to go buy any clothes anytime soon. You can use some of my extra closet space, if you want. There's nothing in that back part except clothes for off seasons. You can move some stuff around and put whatever you're not using in there too. It'll be fine. We're combining stuff now, right? So what better way than closet space?" He smiled up at me, and kissed my cheek.

"Ok. I'm still gonna have to hurt her." I told him, getting up after kissing him again, and cautiously walking over to the mass of gifts like it was gonna bite me.

And upon going through the gifts, we both saw that we were right; ninety percent of the stuff in there was clothes from Alice's shop. But I saw that a lot of the other things were for both of us to make our house, OURS.

Edward kept one box back, waiting for me to finish with everything else.

He seemed a little nervous about it, too. I knew it couldn't be an engagement ring, because the box was a little too big for that… at least I was hoping that's what the case was.

"Umm… this isn't just for you, either. It's for all of us, but I thought it would be better to give this to you because this is a big part of the next step in our lives." He said as he slowly handed over the flat, rectangular box.

"Now I'm scared." I slowly opened the box, and saw a bunch of papers.

I looked closer at them and saw that they were different rooms… house plans… back yard plans…

"Edward…" I whispered as I looked back up at him.

"These are the drafted plans for our new house. Well, our estate, really. It's going to be a couple hundred acres, with a big house, room for a dog kennel that you said you'd wanted once, the kids have been asking about learning to ride horses one day, so there's room to add a stable in the future. I found a large area of Mercer Island that was available, and it looked like a great place where we could build in and around, and do what we want with it. There are great patches of trees, open fields and stuff. It looks like it was made to be a ranch, but no one ever came along to do anything with it. So when I was looking around, I looked in ma and dad's area too, and saw this area, and it was actually several plots, but when I saw it all together, I bought it all. It looked perfect for the four of us, and the kids we'll have one day, and all the things we want to do. It is a lot of land, but we can also have an area separated for the things we need for the business. And when I'm able to get up and running with the helicopter, Jasper wants to be able to keep it at either our place, or mom and dad's. If you don't like what's in these plans, we can rework them to whatever you like. I want you to be happy with it, since we'll spend our life together there." He explained it all to me, and I'm just flabbergasted.

He has gone out and given our future together a huge push. A future that he wants with me, Izzy and Mason, and our future children, in a house of our own. He really does want all of that with me. And I can't for the life of me understand what I've done right to have this man, but I'm so grateful that I do.

"I'm sure they're perfect, but yes, I'll look at them. I can't believe that you went out and did all of this. It's… more than I could've imagined." I told him, kissing him with passion.

When we pulled back from each other, I tried to pull myself back together. We weren't anywhere near ready for that next step. We both still have some healing to do before we can even think about having sex. But we're ok with that. We've gradually getting there, by touching each others bodies, and learning what we each like and want. So when we do make love to each other, we'll be well versed in what the other wants.

He showed me what was actually in the draw-ups for the house and grounds, and I have to say that I am so blown away. It's open, and airy, lots and lots of room, huge dream kitchen, two stories, wrap around porches, wood beams and floors, amazing master bedroom. It's just fabulous. I don't know if I could even alter any of this. I mean, yes, there are a couple of things that could be tweaked, but I don't want to step on toes just to change something.

"I can see you're trying to figure out something, or you don't want to tell me you don't like something. Spill it." He said, knowing exactly where my mind is going.

"Ok, yes, there are a few things I'd like different, but they're small. I don't want to impose. I really do love these plans."

"B, this is going to be OUR home. You need to speak up and tell me what you don't like, or what you want in it. It's not a problem to get them changed. Things can be tweaked and ready to go in no time. We'll have these plans put into work in a matter of months, and we can be in there, probably before next Christmas." He told me, squeezing my sides.

Our first Christmas in OUR home…

It sounds perfect.

"Ok, this is what I would change…"

~_end flashback~_

We sent the plans back to the drafters, and they fixed what we changed. We just got the go ahead with the contractors to start work on it, and they're saying the end of the summer to, maybe, Thanksgiving. It's the beginning of February now, so it sounds reasonable. Well to me it does. Edward wanted it at the beginning of the summer. But I told him that there was just too much to get done, with there being a basement, two stories, and so much structurally to do, it would take time if we wanted it done right.

He saw it my way after that.

I'm brought out of my reverie by two sets of little feet running into the kitchen.

"Mommy! Can we make those apple cupcakes for Valentine's day next week?" Izzy asked as they both skidded to a stop in front of the kitchen island.

I laughed and hugged both of them to me. "Of course we can, baby girl." I tell her, having absolutely no problem doing this for the rest of my life with them.

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><p>I know this was kind of a filler chapter, but it let you guys know what's going on.<p>

I'm gonna try to get more work done on the next chapters and get them out faster, but I just need you guys to stick with me here.

I'll see you guys next time my dears.

Laters!


	25. Chapter 25

Hey you guys! Omg, I know it's been sooooo freakin long since I posted, but shit just keeps piling up and fucking with my head, so I haven't really been focused enough to write lately. And this was a longer chapter, and I didn't want to split it up and make you wait again. The next one is already in the works, and I'll let you know more at the bottom.

Oh! Before I forget. ANNOUNCEMENT! I had one reviewer, well more than one over time, but from the last chapter I posted, I had someone ask if I had a facebook page. Well, I have a RL facebook, and now, thanks to that reviewer, MyaGrace has a facebook page too! So if any of you want to go and follow the page, I'm still in the process of getting everything finished up, but you'll get pictures for stories, info of when new stories are coming(which one is in the works of being thought out.) if anyone wants to discuss stories, past or present, go ahead. If you want to ask questions, knock yourself out. So come find me over there!

I've also had a few questions about Tanya, Charlie, when Edward and Bella are getting married. All things will be answered in this chapter and the next. So keep your panties on. We're getting there, I promise.

And I know some of you will be asking why there wasn't much to the first part of this chapter, and that I've glazed over it, and that's because I have. If you reaaaallllly want the whole gist of things, go read the last chapter of MBEB. I did put most of it in here, but I didn't want it to be too repetitive.

Lola, my very favorite bestest is my awesome beta. Love you, darling. (Lots of hugs and kisses) Keep her in your prayers guys, since she's been going through a really,_ really_ rough time in the past few months.

And SM owns Twilight, of course. I'm just playing around in her world. It's fun that way. Lol

And with that, read on my lovelies!

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><p>BPOV<p>

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I'm engaged…

I just want to smack myself to see if I'm actually dreaming.

But I'm not.

_Flashback_

I can't believe we pulled off the twins' birthday party as well as we did. The planning and preparing for it was just nuts.

I did almost hit Alice when she suggested that we rent a venue for the party…

They're turning seven, not seventeen. They don't need an entire venue for their party, when Esme offered their back yard and house for it.

Her argument was that; at a venue, we could do anything and would have someone else clean up after. And that it was inside in the event that it rained.

The rain thing was a valid argument. It is Seattle, and it is March. Enough said.

But there was plenty of space at Carlisle and Esme's, and I was already set on having a bounce castle for Mason, and I wanted some sort of fairy garden for Izzy, so I put my foot down.

So it ended up being the bounce castle, the fairy garden, some great replicas that you'd find in old castles…

And then me, Alice, Ro and Esme all dressed up as Disney princesses.

Izzy looooves princesses, especially Disney princesses, and fairies, so Alice dressed up as Snow White, Rose was Aurora, Esme was Merida, and I dresses up as Belle.

Perfect choices, right?

Alice kept trying to go back and forth between wanting to dress up as Snow White, and Tinkerbelle. But I guess at the time of the party, she was on her Snow White pick, so that's what she went with.

I'm actually really glad Esme dressed up as Merida from Brave, because that has become Izzy's all time favorite movie. Izzy makes sure that she and I watch it together at least once a week.

The party was amazing for the kids. They couldn't stop talking about everything, and were bouncing around the yard with so much excitement.

It was early March, so it was still pretty cool outside, but we lucked out with decent weather, so that was a major plus.

I just can't believe that it went off without a hitch.

Not even a sick or crying child.

I was ecstatic.

After the party was over, and the cleaning was about halfway through, Edward told Izzy and Mason to get in the car and Esme pushed me out of the kitchen and said to get my butt out of there for a little while, and that they would finish up.

I was a little confused as to what was going on.

"What are we doing, babe?" I asked him as we got into the car and made sure the kids were buckled in.

Edward looked over at me and said, "Showing the kids part of our future…" and then drove out of the driveway.

I guessed we were going over to the property to show Mason and Izzy where we were going to be living, soon.

I absolutely loved the property where our house was being built. It was so picturesque and felt like a wonderland.

Mason and Izzy were so incredibly excited about finally getting a house where they can run around in a big yard, and maybe getting some animals. They've been asking for a dog for a while now, and this would be a good place for us to finally get one. Possibly, a couple of dogs, even.

Walking around the property with the kids and seeing the progress and how well things were coming together made me so happy. This was our future together, with Mason and Izzy. How could I not be happy? It looked like we would still be waiting a few more months for the finished product, but it'll be worth the wait. I'm gonna ask Esme to help me add more to the garden here. I want flowers everywhere.

Then, Izzy got a sad look on her face and asked Edward if I was going to live with them too.

"Baby, of course she is. She's your mother, and she'll still be with us…" Edward said, then whispered something to her that made her light up and jump off of his lap.

Seeing her go and grab Mason's hand makes me think something is up. She's a little bit jumpy and vibrating with excitement.

_Yeah little missy, you're so transparent. _

Edward then walked over to me and looked me in the eye, and I could see so much love and devotion in his.

"Bella, I've been in love with you… probably since forever. You've always been my best friend. You've always been the light that warmed my heart. Anytime we were together as kids, remembering you when we were gone, seeing you again that night in the hotel and finally having you back in my life makes me feel complete. Mason and Izzy have been my whole world since they've been born, but there was always that one thing missing in my life. A mother for them, and a partner for me. The person that finishes the puzzle. Izzy was right that day she asked you to be their mother; I have been lonely. Because I was missing my other half. My Brown Eyed Beauty was my missing puzzle piece. And now that I've got you back, I need to ask you something. Well, actually, we need to ask you something." He told me, and I could hear the emotion so thick in his voice.

He looked over his shoulder at the kids and I followed his line of sight, and gasped when I saw the gorgeous ring Izzy was holding up.

It was a stunning pearl with two aquamarine stones on either side of it, on a simple white gold band.

"Mommy, will you marry us?" Izzy and Mason asked together.

I was stunned speechless for a moment, just staring.

Edward then turned back to me, "What do you say, Beautiful? Will you marry us?" he asked.

_As if I could ever fucking say no to him?_

I flung myself at him, and couldn't stop the huge smile that took over my face. "Yes! Yes, of course I will, you crazy, wonderful man." I told him, and just kissed his whole face, giggling.

After I hugged the kids for dear life, Edward pulled me back to him and slipped the ring on my finger. "I figured since you were marrying all three of us, that it might be good to represent all of us in your engagement ring." He said, kissing me.

"It's perfect, Edward."

Mason tugged me down to him and asked me, "Mommy, you're gonna stay with us forever, right?"

I knew they were worried I'd up and leave one day, but that would never, ever happen. "I wouldn't be anywhere else, baby. You three are my entire world, and I'm never going to leave you."

_~end flashback~_

That night when we got back to his parents', I was bombarded by Esme, Alice and Rose, begging to see the ring, and how he proposed. Then we were promptly pushed out of the house, with Esme telling us that they had the kids for tonight and for us to go celebrate…

And we did…

_~flashback~ _

Walking into the apartment, I was all but bum rushed by Edward, him attacking my neck with the most sensual kisses, and both arms around my waist, pulling me back to him.

"Fuck, Edward. I can't wait anymore. I need you." I told him around a moan that escaped my lips.

"I know, baby. I want more than just a little taste, this time. I want all of you." He kissed up my neck and started shedding my clothes as we worked our way to our bedroom.

We had been fooling around for a while now, even before he got hurt. And we've been working on my getting more comfortable with sexual activities, and being with him that way. Just taking it slow.

That doesn't mean we haven't almost jumped each other because we couldn't stand waiting anymore. But since he got hurt, we've had to put the brakes on letting it get too far, because I sure as hell didn't want to hurt him or his healing process.

But tonight, I'm not in the mood for brakes. I want this man to know how much I love him, and I'm not letting anything hold me back from doing that.

This man… he knows me so damn well. He knows my body, my emotions, my moods, everything. In our 'experimentations', we've learned things the other one likes, dislikes(even though the dislikes were very few and far between), and what made each of us scream. We've been ready to take that next step for a while now. And we're finally there.

Making our way down the hall to our bedroom, Edward's eyes danced with lust and hunger as he kissed me. The kiss was incredible and he took his time.

Never taking my eyes off his, I started to walk backwards as he followed. I slowly unbuttoned my pants and prayed that I wouldn't fall. It wasn't easy walking backwards while trying to be sexy and seductive.

Shimmying out of my jeans, I left my bra and panties on, focusing only on Edward's eyes as they burned through my body as he took me all in. I started crawling back towards the padded headboard as he took off his jeans one leg at a time, before he crawled towards me.

It was taking too long as my body cried out for him to touch me. I unhooked my bra and flung it to the side, while I watched Edward's mouth drop open. I wanted that man like nothing else in the world and it was bringing out another side of me. I ran my hand up and down his chest as he hovered over me, pulling my panties down and throwing them to the side as well. I watched as he closed his eyes at the feel of my nails scraping over his own pebbled nipples.

I leaned up and started placing hungry, wet kisses up and down his neck. I could feel Edward tremble as my hands outlined his abs.

Sitting up, I pushed him over until he laid on his back, staring up questionably at me. Then I straddled him, reclaiming his lips before proceeding down his chest. I took _my_time, memorizing every mole and mark.

I slipped his boxers off slowly as I kept eye contact with him. His eyes spoke loud and clear that he wanted this as much as I did.

Edward sprung up gloriously and my mouth watered. I was getting flushed and I could feel wetness pooling between my thighs. I needed to calm the fuck down before I passed out.

I kept my eyes on his before kissing his tip. His eyes narrowed a bit as his hands curled around the sheets. I watched his mouth open as I licked from the base of his shaft all the way back up to his tip. His hands tightened and I watched as his stomach quivered.

I took several more licks before diving in. I looked up at Edward to see his eyes were closed. I sucked, licked, and stroked, while watching Edward's mixed expressions of pleasure and torment.

He pulled his hand from the sheets, and threaded them through my loose hair, guiding my movements. Something about Edward guiding me made me almost lose it. I never understood how that could turn someone on, but right then, I was on fire, with Edward fanning the flames.

Every time I looked up at Edward his face was distorted, yet his eyes stayed on mine. He would breathe out raggedly, breath the occasional 'fucking hell' or 'oh shit' as he watched. Seeing him loose control made me never want to stop. He was entrancing to watch.

Edward's expression was dark and as he reached down to pull me up to him, kissing the hell out of me, before pulling my hips all the way up to his face. With my core hovering over his mouth, he dug in, completely devouring me, making me scream with pure pleasure.

The man's tongue was nothing short of perfection as he teased, licked and sent me straight into oblivion.

As I came down from that euphoric high, I felt Edward shimmying me down his body so that I was eye level with him, and my pussy was brushing against his very hard erection.

Kissing him and tasting myself on him made me almost lose my fucking mind, all together. I positioned myself over him, and quickly sank down onto him, filling myself to the point of almost fainting.

I finally understood that feeling of 'fullness' that people say happen. It wasn't just the size of Edward. He was definitely a very good size, but the connection between us was all encompassing.

He looked into my eyes as if he could read my thoughts. We were having a moment and I didn't know if my heart could take much more.

When I started to slowly rotate my hips, it felt incredible. I could feel my aching walls constrict, but I welcomed the feeling of him. It was amazing and I was relaxing more and more into him.

It was slow and relaxed. We would look at each other and smile with each thrust as Edward slowly and gently made love to me.

As the rhythmic rocking increased, pulsating pleasure exploded between us. I saw stars underneath my eyes as he placed warm, wet kisses along my face.

What started out as a carnal need, ended up as one of the sweetest moments. We laid in each other's arms for what seemed like forever, just feeling each other's breaths.

"I hope this is how it always is. I couldn't ask for anything else in the world." I told him, running my hand up and down his side.

"It will be, Beautiful. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to spend the rest of our lives together."

_~end flashback~_

Now, it's a month and a half later, and I still can't comprehend that I'm getting married.

We decided we wanted a small, very small, intimate wedding, with just our family. Basically, it's just Edward's side of the family, since I don't really have any family that I want to be involved with the wedding. Edward keeps saying that I should at least invite my sister and her family, and my brother and his family. But I just don't know if I want to deal with them hounding me that I didn't invite Charlie or have him walk me down the aisle. I'm thinking about inviting Renee, but… I just want a drama free event. I can't win with my family, so it's hard to say that I want them all there. But they _are_ my family. In the sense that I was born into that family.

But, my real family is the one I have with Edward. And Carlisle is going to be the one that walks me down the aisle to Edward. Not Charlie. Charlie has no place in my life anymore. Especially after I found out from Edward that he helped Black.

I'm assuming that Charlie is still alive, because Edward would have told me. But at the moment, as long as he's not meddling in my life and making me feel like shit all the time, I don't care where he is, or what he's doing. He could choke on something and die, and I wouldn't bat an eyelash.

I'm done caring what happens to that son of a bitch. He's not my father.

I did tell Edward that I would think about inviting my mom and sister and brother. And it would be up to them whether they showed up or not.

I highly doubt that they'll show, though. I've stopped expecting anything from them. It always just ends in disappointment.

I'm done trying.

"Bells? Can you help zip me up?" Alice asked from in front of the mirror.

I turned around to see my soon to be sister-in-law in a beautiful white princess style wedding dress.

It was perfect for her, fitting her body and her personality so well. She tried on so many dresses when we went dress shopping, and was worried she wouldn't find what she was looking for. She found some that were close, but something was always missing.

She and I went shopping together right after Edward proposed, and that's when we found it.

It was very Belle inspired, and stunningly beautiful. The top of it was corseted, and covered in intricate crystals and silver beads, and a sweetheart neckline. Strapless. The bead work faded down over the hips, where it would start tufting like the iconic dress, and had silver beads covering each tuft of sheer fabric.

When she tried it on, her face lit up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. She knew it was perfect for her.

"Sure, sweetie." I walked over to her and helped her with the zipper, while we waiting for Rose and Esme to get back.

They were making sure the boys were where they were supposed to be and to give Jasper his gift from Alice.

I felt Alice sigh as I finished up the back of the dress.

"I can't believe we're finally doing it. I've dreamt of this day… ever since I first met him when we were eight." She whispered as she looked herself over in the mirror.

"Sometimes, you just know. Some people, it takes longer to realize. I heard about why Jasper waited so long to propose." I laughed, shaking my head. "I never took him for being so thick in the head, but I have been known to be wrong, before." I hugged her shoulders from behind. "But Jasper's never been one to run, either. He knew you would be together forever, whether you had a piece of paper, or not."

"I know." She sighed, and rested her head against mine. "I just always worried that one day, he'd leave and never come back. I'd always wait to see if he'd come home in one piece, or in a body bag. Sometimes it just felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I knew he loved me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't sure if he wanted marriage at all. When we had that fight… I was worried. We'd never fought before and it scared me that he left like that." She looked off, and I knew she was thinking about what Jasper told her what they found out about that night. How Irina drugged him and slept with him, without him even knowing. Just like she did with Edward. Only that time she didn't get pregnant.

"Ali, neither of you could have known she was going to do that. She was always on the lookout to trap one of them."

"I know. It just hurt that it happened, and none of us knew. I did consider, for a second, canceling the wedding. But I know Jazz, and he'd never, ever betray me. It just took me a while to come to grips with that shit. I wish I'd been the one to shoot her ass. I just want one shot at that bitch." She finally laughed at the last part.

"All that matters, honey, is today. You're marrying such an amazing man, who is completely devoted, and over the moon for you. You two are perfectly matched for each other. Nothing, not even what that crazy bitch did, can mess with what you guys have. We're going to make sure that this day is perfect." I told her, kissing her cheek before going to find her veil, and hearing Esme and Rose come back in.

Rose looked over at me and I saw something sharp in her eyes.

Something was wrong.

"Ali, I'm gonna get Ro to help me with something real quick. We'll be right back. Promise." I handed the veil off to Esme, and walked to Rose and grabbed her hand, walking out of the room. "What is it?" I asked as we closed the door.

"Tanya was spotted. She's here, somewhere. This wedding has been all over town and in the papers. The boys are trying to see if they can find her, but they haven't come up with anything yet. Do you wanna try to see if we can get lucky finding her? A couple more sets of eyes won't hurt." Rose said in a low voice, so no one that might come down the hall would be able to hear.

"Guns?" I asked, my mind starting to run into overdrive. We had to handle this, fast, because neither of us had our dresses on yet. We were both in jeans and tanks, but at least we wouldn't draw too much attention.

"In our clutches. I put them in there, just in case. You know Edward and the boys would have a shit-fit if we didn't have them somewhere close." She said as she turned back to the bridal room that we had setup in the hotel, and silently grabbed our clutches from inside the door.

Handing me my bag, I reach in and find that my purple handled gun that Edward had given me for my birthday was sitting in there, with an extra clip and an ear piece in the event we'd need it.

Along with my lip gloss and phone. Of course.

We take off towards the back side of the hotel, trying to be as discreet as possible and putting in our ear pieces.

I turned on my ear piece and listened to see if anyone was chattering.

"What's going on? All we've heard is that Tanya's here." I ask into my mic as we come to a pause near the kitchen of the hotel.

"B? Baby, what are you guys doing? You don't need to put yourself in the line of fire." I heard Edward try to get me to back out, but it wasn't happening.

"Edward, I'll be damned if she's going to ruin Alice and Jasper's wedding. So you can just stop there. We're helping, and that's all there is to it. So tell us what's going on." I told him through the ear piece, leaving no room to argue.

"She was last spotted trying to make her way up the private elevator. Obviously to get up to our apartments, hoping to try and hit us there. When her old card didn't work, she tried using the codes, but that alerted my phone. So we called people in and found out she's snooping around the ground floor. We don't know what else she's looking for." Edward said through the ear piece, and we could hear more chatter start.

"Boss, we spotted a woman matching the target's description going through the hotel bar." We all heard, what sounded like Riley, say.

"Edward, let me and Ro go. She won't think we're armed. We'll be able to get to her easier." I told him in a low voice, hoping that he'll see that he's the one Tanya's probably looking for.

"Fine, but don't you dare take out your ear piece. And you keep your gun where you can get it without hesitation. Both of you." He said in a very authoritative voice.

We both made sure we were prepped and then started for the bar area.

As we came around the first corner, I saw a streak of strawberry blond hair ducking into the stairwell that was situated near the bar entrance.

"Stairwell." I whispered to Rose, and we made our way to the door that lead up to each level.

Rose and I were quiet as we opened the door slightly and listened. I could hear quick, light steps running up the stairs, and knew she was at least a level above us.

"Let's go." Rose whispered to me, and we both started running up each level, too.

Thank god we were in flats. This would have been a lot harder than we needed.

We went up several flights of stairs, still not being noticed by Tanya. And I think I knew where she was heading to.

"She's gotta be going to the levels under construction. She has to know we're onto her." I told Rose as we rounded another corner going up.

Rose nodded again, took a deep breath, and we both sprinted our way to levels twenty-three through twenty-six.

Fucking nightmare.

I need to start running at the gym. This is kicking my ass.

Once we were on the stairwell below level twenty-four, we stopped hearing footsteps.

We both stopped and listened carefully, panting and out of breath.

I heard the squeak of a door above, and I wasn't sure, but it sounded like it was on the twenty-fifth floor.

I went in front of Rose up the stairs and waited just outside of the door. We both took a deep breath and she opened the door so I could check the first side to see if it was all clear, then she came up beside me to check the other side.

"Got her…" Ro whispered beside me, and I turned my head to see Tanya's form skirting along the hallway, past a scaffold and stacks of building supplies they had for the remodels.

"Take the shot." I whispered back, and she immediately let off a shot, just missing Tanya.

"Shit. Now she knows we found her." Rose said, then we both ran to the cover of one of the many beams that lined the halls between each room.

We waited for a while to see if Tanya would return fire, but she didn't.

"Should we go after her?" I asked Rose, not sure if we should stay here, or go after Tanya, or even if we should wait for the guys to get up here.

"Just wait a second… She thinks we're gonna just come straight after her, and if we can wait her out, we'll get a good shot… hopefully. I don't think she's the smartest cookie in the bunch, but she could've just be snowin' us before." She said, as we settled against the wall to wait her out.

We didn't have to wait for too long, because about two minutes later, we could hear movement just down the hallway from us. And it was fast.

"Fuck, she's running." I told her, then peaked out from our spot to see Tanya running our way. "Shit…" I muttered, then made the split decision to tackle her ass.

And I did.

Timing it as best I could, I jumped from my spot behind the pillar, and almost ripped her head off as I slammed her to the ground.

"Aaahh! You bitch!" She screeched at me, as she started wrestling me around on the ground.

She started flailing and swinging, and got in a good hit that knocked the wind out of me, landing me on my ass.

I hear her start to scuffle with Rosalie, and the shrieks coming from Tanya, and the cursing coming from Rose.

I finally was able to look up and see Rose and Tanya swinging each other around in a circle, Tanya with a good grip on Rose's hair, and Rose has a death grip on Tanya's shirt. Which is now kind of exposing Tanya's upper body, but neither of them care at the moment.

Neither do I, because I'd rather just rip her to pieces.

I sit up as quickly as I can, taking deep breaths to get more air in my lungs, I start to get to my feet so I can help Rosalie out. I can feel my ribs are killing me, along with the rest of my damn body.

Tanya and Rose are dangerously close to a huge pile of construction supplies and another scaffold. And Tanya flings Rosalie into the scaffold, hitting Rose's head, then tosses her towards, what looks like, cans of paint, tool boxes, and some sort of machines.

Rose goes flying over the piles of stuff, and lands with a thud and a groan.

I charge towards Tanya, forgetting that I've dropped my gun somewhere, and not knowing whether she has one on hand right now or not.

When I make contact with her, it's slamming her into the wall behind her and nailing her in the jaw with my fist.

"You think it's just me here to take you all out? I'm not that stupid. There are two other guys downstairs taking care of the rest of those bastards. Carlisle won't be the only Cullen to fall." She sneered at me, with my arm holding her to the wall.

"You're not getting out of here alive, so what does it matter to you? I will personally make sure of it. And I'll let you in on a little secret. What you _don't _know, is that Carlisle is very much alive." I smirked at her, knowing that just blew the wind out of her sails.

She decided to head-butt me and start scratching at my face.

I guess when she got pissed and backed into a corner, she started a cat-fight.

I heard Rose get back to her feet and come our way again.

When I finally heard a gun cock, I looked up from my spot on the ground under Tanya, with her hands around my neck, and saw Rose with her gun pointed straight at Tanya's head.

"I guess it's a good thing then that I let the boys know that there're more people after us." Rosalie sneered at her. "Get up, you fucking whore."

Tanya finally let go of my neck and slowly stood up.

I stood too, and found my gun on the floor and picked it up, pointing it at Tanya, as well.

"Go ahead. I'll get to be with Irina, now. I'll see you all in hell, bitches." Tanya said, eerily with a smile on her face.

I cocked my gun and Rose and I both let out a shot, one to her throat and one to her chest.

Seeing her fall to the ground in a heap, felt like a wait off of our shoulders.

I looked over at Rosalie, my own breaths panting, she seems like she's calm and cool.

Almost.

She's just staring at Tanya's dead body.

"Ro?" I asked, hoping she'd snap out of it. She finally looked up at me with almost vacant eyes. "You ok, honey?"

She looked back down, then nodded. When she turned to go to the elevator, she shook her whole body out, I'm guessing, to rid herself of the funk she was in.

I have to admit, I think I was in the same funk too. But I guess I'm far to wired up on adrenaline that it hasn't quite hit me yet.

I just killed someone…

By the time we're in the elevator headed down to the lobby, I'm curled up on the floor, shaking. I can't hear much of anything around me because my ears are ringing. Things are fuzzy and I don't know how much time has gone by.

I finally feel everything fade away, only to be jolted back into reality.

When I blinked my eyes, I noticed I was in a hospital room.

"Bella?" I looked over and saw Edward sitting in a chair beside my bed.

"Oh my god, you're ok…" I say, trying to adjust myself in this fucking uncomfortable bed, but feel that my ribs have been wrapped when a sting runs through my torso.

"Baby, sit back. Yes, I'm fine, just a little banged up. So are you. You just have some badly bruised ribs and some bumps and bruises." Edward told me, soothing my worry about my injuries, and his own.

"What about Ali's wedding? It was set to start when we went after-" I started, but Edward spoke up.

"Don't worry. She said she was going to hold it off for a little while, until we got back from the hospital. She wanted to make sure you and Rose were ok. She told everyone that all the guys were running late since we went out of town for Jasper's bachelor party." He laughed. "But we've gotta get back there soon and get dressed before she starts freaking out. Actually, she was kinda pissed that we didn't tell her what was going on. But she finally understood we were trying to keep her out of it and handle it before the wedding started. We had no clue, until Rose told us, that there were two of Jacob's men that were helping her out. But we took care of them." He explained before the doctor walked in.

I'm just glad that it was one that was on the Cullen payroll. Dr. Greene.

"Bella, good to see you awake. I'll try to be quick, so you guys can get back to the wedding. You're clear to go. You just bruised up three ribs, and a few scratches to your face and arms, and some bruises around. I'm sure Alice will have some sort of makeup to cover the visible ones, but I think you'll be ok for a little while. They probably won't show too badly until tomorrow, if you're lucky. You're gonna want to take it easy for a bit so the baby can recover from the trauma your body just went through…" Dr. Greene was saying, but that last bit shot me up in the bed.

"WHAT?!"

Dr. Greene looked at me like I was insane, but looked back at his chart. "You didn't know you were pregnant? You're about a month along, Bella."

SAY WHAT?!

* * *

><p>Soooooo, does that answer most of y'all's questions? I've got an Epi in the works, so we're just about to wrap up this baby. I can't believe it's almost over. This is one of my favorites so far.<p>

I think I'm gonna hit the complete button on MBEB. I think I left it in a good spot. Anything else would be only a paragraph or two for that side, so I think I'll finish it all up with MGEMP and let MBEB be done. I maaaaayy do a tiny follow up to this sometime, but we'll see how things go.

So until next time, *tear*, I'll see you guys soon.

Laters


	26. Chapter 26

You guys….. this is it. This is the last chapter for MGEMP. I think I'm gonna cry. I can't believe it's already over. I'm not gonna promise one way or the other if there will be an outtake/futuretake, but I'll leave that open for thought. I think I like how I've left things.

I do, however, have thoughts started for a new story, but I need a damn break from writing and the insanity in my life for a little while before I get into something new. And I wanna make sure it's good for y'all. I will say this though; the next one will have a southern Bella in it. Hope that interests you guys. Put me on your author alerts if you want to know when that's coming out, or keep an eye out here, because I'll probably put a little chapter/author note up here so you'll all know when it's ready. It'll be a while though, so don't expect it next week. Lol

Anywho, I hope you guys like this one. I tried to fit everything in that I wanted to get said. I don't know if I did, but here's hopin.

You guys know the deal by now; Lola is my beta, and awesomest friend.

And SM owns twilight, not I.

Read on, my lovelies, for the last time. *tears*

* * *

><p>Epilogue<p>

BPOV

What a difference five years makes.

I'm a completely different person then I was before Edward came back. That's for sure.

And there's no way I'd ever wish to go back to the way things were then.

After we found out I was pregnant, I went into shock again. Just not quite as long as I had when Rose and I killed Tanya.

I at least remember most of Alice and Jasper's wedding, though my mind and my hand kept going to the little life growing inside me.

Edward noticed all through the ceremony, too. Actually, he couldn't keep his eyes off of me the rest of the day.

We waited to tell everyone until our own wedding day. It would only be a little less than a month after Alice and Jasper's, and we wanted to make sure there was no trauma to the baby, and that he/she was growing well.

_~Flashback~_

We decided to have the wedding in Carlisle and Esme's back yard. We were only having the family attend, and some of the closer members of the mafia.

I only ended up sending an invitation to my mother, since I told Edward there was no way in hell that I was putting Charlie's name in the invitation. And then I sent one to my sister and her family, and my brother and his.

Whether they show up is entirely up in the air.

What made me nervous about my family possibly being there, now more than before, was how they'd take the fact that I was pregnant after being here just nine months.

I honestly don't care what they think, I just don't want them making a scene on my wedding day. I just want this day to be free from drama. I don't want their shit to ruin my day with Edward.

I don't even think they'll show up. And I'm ok with that. I've accepted that they don't feel a need to be a part of my life anymore.

Emmett, Jasper, and Edward did most of the setup in Esme's garden. It was already perfect, but we still needed a few touches. Alice was insistent on adding a few flower arrangements around, and an altar, but I put my foot down at an arch. Too damn cliché.

I just wanted it simple, and with the people we loved.

I was in love with my dress. The bodice was simple, with gathered sheer chiffon crossing over each other and then pulling up into a halter around my neck. And the bottom had the chiffon in loads of layers, but it was gathered in four spots around my hips in a cascade down. There was no train to it, which suited me fine.

When I found it, I instantly fell in love with it. It was so simple, yet elegant.

I decided to curl my hair, and pull half of it up in the back. Nothing too over the top. And I kept my makeup light. Mascara, little bit of eye-liner, some powder, and that's it.

Edward and I both said it wasn't necessary for him to wear a tux, so I told him I was fine with him wearing a pair of black dress pants, a nice shirt, and tie. But he swore that if I was going to wear an actual wedding dress, he was at least going to wear a full suit.

I couldn't argue with him on that.

But we did say that everyone else could be a little less formal, and Jasper and Emmett could forgo the jacket of their suits if they wanted. Edward had asked them to stand up and be his best men, and of course, Alice and Rose were my matrons-of-honor.

I told Alice and Rose that they could wear whatever they wanted in the purple color range. So Rose ended up in a plumb colored halter dress, and Alice wore a lavender strapless dress. Which was perfectly fine with me.

Esme told me not to worry about food, because she would take care of making everything, and even a small wedding cake for us.

Everything was taken care of, and it was all how we wanted it; simple and intimate.

Earlier on the morning of the wedding, Esme had given me a beautiful pair of sapphire earrings that she had gotten from her own mother when she married Carlisle.

I had tears streaming down my face when she gave them to me. The fact that she was giving me a family heirloom on my wedding day, and the damn pregnancy hormones, made me a huge mess.

I just hope she didn't catch onto the hormones and automatically know I'm pregnant.

Alice, Rose and Esme helped me get dressed in one of the rooms towards the back of the house, where we could see the back yard, and how things were progressing before we were set to go out there.

"Where are Izzy and Mason? Are they getting dressed?" I asked, fussing with the underwear I was getting ready to go change into. I was starting to show a little bit, and I was freaking out that Esme and the girls were going to notice and ruin our surprise. So I decided to put on a strapless slip that had a built in bra, and panties. There may have been a ton of layers to the bottom of the dress, but I wasn't going to take a chance that you could see through it somehow. And I was hoping it'd help hide the bump.

"Yes, Mason's with the boys, and Izzy's on her way in here to get herself finished up. We need to focus on getting you in your dress right now, though. So snap to it, missy." Rose said, hurrying me into the bathroom.

I sighed and got my undergarments on so I could finish getting dressed, but not before I ran my hand over my growing stomach.

Once I was back out in the other room, Alice and Rose got me into my dress and helped me with the few touch-ups to my face.

Izzy finally came in and looked so adorable in her little white dress that had lots of purple flowers scattered around it.

"Has anyone seen if my mom or sister or brother are here?" I asked quietly to Esme.

"No, honey. No one has seen them. We never got any sort of R.S.V.P. from them. I'm sorry." She told me, hugging me to her side.

"I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. I didn't expect them to come, but I wanted them to at least know. I guess I really know where I stand with them." I said, fighting back the tears that wanted to spill over.

"Bella, I couldn't be more happy that you're finally going to be an official member of the family. I'm so thankful that the two of you found each other, again. You've always been a daughter to us and I'd never change that. I love you, sweetheart." Esme said, giving me a kiss and a huge hug, then walking over to the door to check to see where we were in our waiting game.

Seeing that things were finally ready to get moving after Esme came back in, she, Alice and Rose made their way out to the back deck with Izzy on their heels.

Edward and I were going to wait until after the end of the ceremony to take care of the little issue of me becoming the kids' mother, officially, and telling everyone about our own little addition.

The plan had been for Carlisle to walk me down the aisle. But seeing as he couldn't do that, he'd be waiting at the end of the aisle for me and would give me away.

So with the new plan in place, I waited a few seconds after Alice, Rose and then Izzy and Mason walk down the stairs to follow behind them.

Walking down that aisle towards him, I know I'm not nervous about marrying Edward. I'm far from nervous. I'm ready. I want this. It's where I'm supposed to be in life.

Making it to where Carlisle is at the end of the aisle, I take his hand and Esme helps him to where Edward is standing.

I must say, Edward is looking every bit as delicious as I've ever seen him. The simple black suit that he's wearing makes him just look lickable.

And the fact that he's finally getting more and more freedom from the cane he's been using, is amazing. We weren't sure in the beginning if he'd ever be able to walk without it again. But now, he's going most of the day without it, and I'm so proud of the progress he's made.

"Who gives this woman to be wed?" The minister asked as we stood in front of him.

"Her mother and I do." Carlisle said with such conviction and pride, that tears sprung to my eyes and I leaned down to kiss his cheek, thanking him. As I stood back up, I did the same with Esme before they turned to sit in the row of chairs situated behind us.

Looking in Edward's eyes as we said our vows and exchanged rings, made me feel like everything was falling into place. The love that we felt for each other, and the love we have for our children, shined through in each of us. This was our time of officially becoming a family.

"Mr. Cullen, you may now kiss your bride." The minster finally said, and neither of us needed to be told twice.

I grabbed Edward by the back of his hair, and fused my lips to his. I was finally married to my childhood sweetheart, my protector, my best friend.

"Before I send them off down the aisle, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen have something that they would like to do." The minister said and moved to stand to the side so we could do our thing.

"Izzy, Mason, could you two come up here with us?" I said, motioning for them to come stand with me and Edward.

We turned to face the rest of the family, and I tried to not mess up what I wanted to say.

"Edward and I discussed this when we started planning the wedding, and we would like for everyone to share in this moment. I'm going to adopt Mason and Izzy and officially be their mother. And I want to say something to both of you." I turned to Mason and Izzy. "It's not much, but it means everything that I feel for you two. It's a poem that I read once and never understood it, until I first heard you call me mommy.

'_Not flesh of my flesh_

_Or bone of my bone_

_But still miraculously my own_

_Never forget_

_Not for a minute_

_You were not born under my heart_

_But in it'_

"You two were definitely born in my heart, because from the moment I saw the two of you in the park that day, I was already attached to you. I knew, somewhere deep down, that I was supposed to be part of your lives. I didn't know at the time that I was supposed to be your mom. But I'm so thankful that it turned out that way." I leaned over the small table that was sitting there to sign the adoption papers that would finally make them my children.

"I may not have given birth to you, but that never mattered to me. Love did. I couldn't love the two of you anymore than if you were my own flesh and blood. I would never trade you for anything in the world. You're every bit of your daddy that is good and wonderful. And I want the two of you to know that," I reached down and grabbed each of their hands and placed them on my belly over our growing child, "when this baby gets here, that he or she won't replace you." I heard the gasps and squeal that I knew came from Alice. "He or she will need a lot of attention when they get here, but that doesn't mean that we'll forget about either of you. You're just as important to us, and that'll never change. But I'm gonna need you to help me and your daddy when he or she gets here. Can you do that for me?"

They both looked up at me with wonder in their eyes, and even a couple of happy tears, and nodded. I knelt down and hugged them to me so tightly.

I then heard the commotion around us, and saw that everyone had come over to congratulate us on the wedding _and_ the baby.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I can't believe I'm gonna be a grandma again!"

"This is so exciting! I can't wait to go shopping!"

Rose congratulated us, but I saw the slight look in her eyes that said she was sad at the same time.

I walked over to her and hugged her to me, then pulled back to hold her face in my hands.

"Don't you dare start feeling sad. It'll happen, sweetheart. I know it will. You were meant to be a mother. Don't give up." I whispered to her.

A couple of tears fell down her face, but she put that aside and smiled hugely at me.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be such a downer. It was just a shock to me. I'm so happy for you guys." She said as she hugged me again.

Esme scooped me into her arms and hugged the stuffing out of me.

"I can't wait to start decorating a room for the baby! When are you gonna find out what you're having? When's the due date? When is the house gonna be finished, cuz I need to get in there. Oh my god, we've got so much to do, sweetheart." She went on and on.

"Ma, calm down. Bella's due around the end of the year. The house will already be finished by then. Actually it should be done by the end of July. So you can get in there then. And as for your other question, we'll find out in a couple of months. She's only two months along now. We've got plenty of time." Edward stepped in and saved the day.

"Oh! A Christmas or New Year's baby? That'll be so great around the holidays!-" Esme went off on a tangent and started talking with Alice about planning while we talked to the rest of the family.

Edward finally was able to put his hands on my stomach without giving away our secret.

I had a little secret of my own that I have to tell Edward, but I'm gonna wait…

After a small reception of a gorgeous cake and dancing, and a lot more congratulations from everyone, Edward and I said goodbye to the kids, and set off for two weeks back in South Carolina, at the plantation in Charleston.

Edward had asked me where I really wanted to go for a honeymoon. I told him that I didn't want anything lavish or cliché. Charleston was so beautiful, historic, and had beaches, so I suggested that we go there, and he was completely on board.

We had been at the plantation for two days, and were out for a long walk around the grounds when I decided to let Edward in on my secret.

"Babe?" I asked, kind of quietly because I hated to disturb the beautiful peace that was around us.

"Yeah?"

I squeezed the hand that was holding mine and said, "You liked being a twin growing up, didn't you?" I kind of chickened out on how I wanted to do this.

He looked at me questioningly, but nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Jasper was always a great brother, even though we had our disagreements at times. We were great together and were always in tuned with each other. Why do you ask?"

"I just wonder how it's gonna be having two sets of them in the house for the next eighteen years or so. I mean, I know Mason and Izzy are great together, but they're fraternal twi-" I said, but was jerked backwards because Edward had stopped walking.

He studied my face, staring into my eyes and then looked down at my stomach, then back up at me, realization dawning on him. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around my stomach, pulling the bottom part of my shirt up and kissing over the bump that was there.

"Hey in there little ones. Why didn't you let us know that there was two of you in there sooner?" he then looked up at me. "I guess I should've had a small inkling that it could happen. Especially with me and Jasper, and Izzy and Mason being twins. But I didn't really think it would happen."

"Well, I was trying to figure out why I was showing so soon and so much. So I went to the doctor last week before all the craziness of the wedding, and she did an ultrasound, and found two heartbeats. So she looked closer and saw two little fetuses. We're having twins, Edward. I never thought I'd be able to have kids, but now I'm having twins." I told him, kissing his lips.

"Baby, I couldn't be more happy. One baby would have been amazing, but two? I knew I wanted a big family with you, but this … this is a miracle. Thank you so much, sweetheart." He said, and I could see the tears falling down his cheeks.

"I'm so scared, Edward. This is gonna be a hard pregnancy. What if something goes wrong? What if someone comes after us and hurts the babies? I'm just…"

"Beautiful, it'll be ok. We're in this together. I already upped your security, but I'm gonna make sure there's a couple more guys around. I don't want you to worry. You'll always be protected. I'm gonnna be around more, too. I promise."

And he did keep that promise. He called and made sure that the security back home was stepped up for when we get back. He also made sure that Jasper had every single security measure and the best security system for the new house ready for when the house was done. Within the month that we would return from our honeymoon, we would finally be able to move into the house. I couldn't wait to get settled into the house and start our lives with both of our sets of twins.

Gah. I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around two babies growing inside of me. I thought that after a few days of knowing, that it would sink in a little more. But I guess it'll take a little longer to fully grasp it. I mean, I know I'm having twins. And I know Mason and Izzy are twins. But I also am new to what it entails during a pregnancy and raising them. Hell, a regular pregnancy is new to me. A twin pregnancy is fucking frightening.

But Edward made sure he was with me the whole way.

After we got home from our honeymoon, we broke the newest news to the family.

To say that the noise level doubled from when they first found out to now, would be an understatement. Esme was the loudest. She was freaking out about having another set of twins to spoil. And Mason and Izzy were hyped up to not only have a little sister or brother, but two. There was no containing their happiness.

Everyone was ecstatic. There wasn't a day that I was alone during my pregnancy, which kind of annoyed the hell out of me. There were a lot of days where I just wanted to be left alone to relax and bond with our twins as they grew. But the family wasn't having that.

We finally got moved into the house in the middle of July, and Esme was chomping at the bit to find out the sex of the twins so she could work on the room for them. She already had plans for girls, boys, and even another set of a boy and girl twins. I was giving her partial reign over the design of the room, but I had veto power if I didn't like something.

Alice wouldn't leave me alone, because she wanted to go shopping all the time for the babies, and she started getting ideas for a baby line of clothes for her boutique, so she wanted my opinion on things. I was flattered by the thought that she wanted my opinion, but when she was calling me at four a.m. asking me about how I thought a smocked jumper with ruffles would look, I had had it. I was at five months, ready to see what the sex of the babies would be, and people were cramming themselves and their ideas down my throat. I just wanted some peace and quiet for a few hours.

"Babe, I know they've just been trying to help, but I can't take it anymore. I just want to be left alone for a little while and not have everyone calling and stopping by every ten minutes. This pregnancy is already tiring the hell out of me. What the hell am I gonna be like when I get to eight months? I just need them to all back off a little. Esme can get in here next week after we get the news on the sex, but for now, can we just have some time to ourselves?" I knew I was being a bitch, but I was ready to pull my hair out.

"Don't worry, Beautiful. I'll take care of everything." Edward said, then kissed my head and started making some calls.

So Edward sent the kids to their Namie and PopPop's for the weekend, and we both went to the doctor on that Friday to find out what we were having, and then we were going to have a relaxing weekend together, just the two of us.

Sitting in the doctor's office, I was nervous as hell. I didn't really have a preference of what sex the twins would be, but for some reason, I could just see two little girls.

"So, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen. How are we doing this morning? I hear we're finding out what you're gonna be having, today?" Dr. Greene asked as she came in and started working on getting everything set up.

"We're great. Anxious to see what we're having, but really excited." I told her as she pulled over the ultrasound machine and got me prepped.

"Well let's get started then, shall we?" she said, then moved the wand over my now very prominent belly. "Alright, let's see… looks like they're developing beautifully. Good, strong heartbeats. Ok, any guesses on what you're having before we find out?" Dr. Greene asked us.

I looked over at Edward, and I knew what he was thinking.

"I think it's two girls. But Edward thinks it'll be another boy and girl pair." I told the doctor as she moved the wand again to where she could find what we were looking for.

"Well…" She said, looking at the screen, then over to me. "You're right, mom. We've got two little girls, here. And they look like they're going to be very close as siblings. See how they're holding onto each other?" She asked, and pointed at the hands that they seemed to be holding and their heads close together, like they were almost hugging or sharing a twin moment that I've often seen Mason and Izzy share.

"Oh my god." I whispered as tears sprang to my eyes.

"I guess we don't have to worry about them getting along." Edward joked, but I could still hear the emotion in his voice.

After we left the doctor's office with printouts of the twins, we headed home for a night of relaxation.

That night, I got up in the middle of the night and walked into what would be the twins room and just stood there, looking at it and picturing what it would be like.

I don't know how long I had been standing there, but I felt Edward wrap his arms around me, caressing our little girls growing inside of me.

"What are you thinking about so hard, beautiful?" he whispered.

I leaned my head against his and held onto his arms. "Just imagining what things will be like when they get here. What they'll look like. How they'll grow… I don't want pink in here, Edward. Every mom does their daughter's room in pink. I can't stand it. I want something different. Like a fairy wonderland. I know Esme can do it, but I don't want to hear any crap about there being no pink. I know I'll get it from Alice."

"Honey, calm down. Everything will be how you want it. Alice knows now that she needs to tone it down a bit. We just have to keep her on a short leash when it comes to our girls."

"Our girls…Shit, we need to think of names." I told him, already going through lists of names that we might use.

"Hmmm, well, why don't we go back to bed and think about some. I'm sure between the two of us, we can come up with something amazing."

So as we laid in bed, mulling over names, we finally came up with what we thought were perfect names for two little Cullen girls.

Olivia Rose, and Carrie Alice Cullen finally came into the world on December 20th. Olivia was born first, at 10:22 a.m. and Carrie arrived twelve minutes later at 10:34 a.m.

They didn't have any complications. Both were at healthy weights for twins, both just around six pounds.

What I wasn't expecting, was how utterly stunning they would be.

Plump little red lips, little button noses, two beautiful pairs of brown eyes, and full heads of copper-brown hair.

They were so gorgeous.

"I'm really in trouble when they get to be teenagers, aren't I?" Edward asked once we finally had them in our arms and I was moved to a room.

"I would say so. Izzy's not gonna be any easier, but god help us when there's two more gorgeous girls that we'll have to keep an eye on. We're definitely gonna have our hands full." I said, as I stared down at the stunner in my arms.

I heard Edward groan next to me and tell Olivia, "I'm in deep shit."

I laughed, and heard the sounds of two other little beauties coming down the hall.

"We have incoming." I told him just as the door creaked open and Mason and Izzy popped their heads in.

"Mommy!" they squealed and came running over to the bed.

The two of them had been so good and helpful during my pregnancy with the girls. And I knew they would be the best big brother and sister.

"Shh, don't scare them." Edward told them, as he helped Mason up into his lap, and Izzy up onto the bed with me.

They both peered over the blankets at the girls and smiled brightly.

"They're so cute!" Izzy said, then reached her little fingers over carefully to Carrie's cheek. Carrie nuzzled into Izzy's fingers, like she already knew who was there. "Wow."

Mason and Izzy stayed glued to Carrie and Olivia the entire time the family was there. They didn't want to miss anything, even though we told them that they were just little and wouldn't do much right now. They didn't care. They wanted to be there for everything.

And I guess I could relate. I was the same way, but I was their mother; I needed to be there for them.

After the family and the kids left, Edward and I curled up with our girls and just watched them.

"I can't believe we did it." I whispered as they were sleeping.

"We did. I'm so proud of you, beautiful." He said, kissing the side of my head.

I looked back up at him and just smiled. I had everything I could ever want. A wonderful husband who loved me more than his own life, two children that I may not have given birth to, but I couldn't love them more than if they were my own, and two little girls that I got to actually share the bond a mother has with her child during pregnancy and that have my genes. And I have a family that treats me as if I was born into it.

I couldn't ask for anything more.

_~end flashback~_

Now, five years later, I can't even begin to fathom how I got so lucky.

Esme and I ended up opening a bakery together here in Seattle. We opened it about two years ago once the girls were about three years old. She and I both needed something to do with our days, and as much as I loved spending all my time with the kids, I wanted something to do. So did Esme. So we were sitting down one day while I had the kids over at their house, and she tossed the idea out to me about opening a bakery that we did our own recipes and custom cakes and cupcakes.

I was so excited to do this with her. I was never really sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I loved baking and making things. So when she suggested this, I was completely on board.

Edward was thrilled that I found something that I wanted to do with my life, too. He had been doing his work with the feds for a while, and didn't want me to lose who I was. I was a mother and caregiver, yes, but I also loved the satisfaction I got when someone enjoyed a creation I made.

So, Esme and I opened up _Bella Regina Bakery._ Edward and Carlisle kind of teamed up against us to name the bakery, but in the end, I kind of liked it. Edward used the name he had put on my shirt at the bar to name the bakery for me and his mom. How could you be mad about something like that?

The girls are now five, and Mason and Izzy are thirteen. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. My babies aren't babies anymore.

They've grown into wonderful young people. Mason and Izzy are like guard dogs for Olivia and Carrie. Those two love those little girls. And Olivia and Carrie… turned out to be, no lie, probably the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I know all parents say that, but the fact that they are almost mirror images of their father, with the exception of my eyes and nose, they definitely deserve the title of absolute beauty. And Dr. Greene was right; they were extremely close with each other. Always attached at the hip, and fed off of each other all the time. They were the sweetest little things, but definitely a handful. But I'd never have them any other way.

Edward has gained almost all of the use of his injured leg back over the years. He still has a slight limp, and when he pushes his self too much, he has to slow down a bit. But overall, he's come leaps and bounds from when he was first shot.

Alice and Jasper finally had a little boy of their own, a few years back. Adam is now three and a half and looks just like Jasper. He's beyond adorable.

Rose and Em finally had a little girl of their own. Lillian just turned three, herself. Alice and Rose ended up being pregnant together, so it was a little easier on Rose when she found out they were expecting.

Rosalie was beyond happy when she found out that she was finally pregnant. She started getting scared that she'd really never get to have her own child.

I told her that she couldn't give up yet. She had to have faith that it would happen.

She was worried that she had lost faith. But it was about eight months later that she came to me with a positive pregnancy test in her hands. She was literally vibrating with excitement and I couldn't blame her.

And Carlisle was much the same as after his shooting. But in the last year, has started getting some feeling back in his legs. It's not much, but he at least feels something, and that's enough to give us all hope. But the man really has no problem spoiling his grandkids any chance he gets.

I'm brought out of my reverie by Edward's arms wrapping around me from behind.

We had brought the kids to the park for the afternoon to play with Adam and Lily and some of their friends. Mason and Izzy were helping keep an eye on them while they ran around.

"Penny for your thoughts, beautiful?" Edward asked as we watched the kids, and I got worried seeing some of the other kids picking on Olivia and Carrie since they were playing with Adam and Lily.

I saw Mason and Izzy come over and intervene.

"Hey, why don't you leave them alone so they can play. They're not hurting anyone, so stop picking on them." Mason said in an authoritative voice, making the other kids shrink back.

"Thinking about how each of our tattoos have more meaning now than they did when we got them." I told Edward, still watching the kids as they went back to playing.

"What do you mean, baby?" He asked, kissing my head.

"Just that we've got our own Browned Eyed Beauties that have two wonderful Green Eyed Protectors." I said with emotion in my voice, and knowing that I was going to add to my tattoos, for sure.

"You'll always be my first Brown Eyed Beauty." He said, hugging me to him.

I turned in his arms and reached up and kissed him. "And you'll always be my Protector, Green Eyes."

THE END!

* * *

><p>Now I really have tears!<p>

I can't begin to tell you guys how much it's meant to me to have you read my little bit of craziness. And the responses I've gotten from you all just drove me to keep going with it. You're all wonderful, and I love you guys!

The poem from the wedding, I may have ripped off from another story, but it's exactly what I was looking for when I was about a quarter of the way through writing this story. I knew it was what I wanted to use when she finally adopted Mason and Izzy, so if anyone wants to bitch that I ripped it off, oh well. I couldn't find anything else that said what I needed to be said in that moment.

And the poem was by Fleur Conkling Heylinger, so I don't get into trouble there.

*Sighs* This is it, guys. I'm off to press the complete button for this story. It's been an honor to write this story for you all. Thanks for reading!


	27. Chapter 27

Hey you guuuuyyyyy!

For starters, no this is not a chapter. Sorry!

But I do want to tell y'all how unbelievably thankful and blown away I am at the response to this story. I've had so many people tell me how much they loved it and wished there was more of it.

I don't have any plans right now for continuing this story, because I'm gonna start work on a new story, hopefully soon. So, for now, this one's totally done.

And, I'd like to let all of you guys know….

*LISTEN UP PEEPS!*

that this story was nominated in the poll to find the Top Ten Favorite Fics completed in June. I'd really appreciate it if you guys went and voted. You guys already got this story one award, let's go for another one.

The website is www . Twifanfictionrecs . com. (obviously take out spaces.)

Again, you guys have been the best followers/fans that I could ever ask for. I never thought I'd have this many people reading something I wrote, and I don't think I could have written it as well as I ended up with it without you all. Y'all fueled me to write.

So thank y'all again, so so much for all the support. And keep an eye out in the next couple of months for a new story from me.

Amy :)


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